


Merc Tails

by RenardTheFox



Category: Twokinds (Webcomic)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 27,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23598643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenardTheFox/pseuds/RenardTheFox
Summary: Renard the fox and Sig the wolf lead their group of freed prisonners away from Edinmire. The first steps of the ambitious plan worked well, now it's time for the hardest part : bring these wolves safely to the other side of the continent, straight through ennemy territory.





	1. Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Merc Tails, the story of keidran mercenaries hired by the Wolf Tribes in their war against humans.  
> This is a story happening in the world of the webcomics Twokinds created by Tom Fischbach, happening right after the events of Edinmire in chapter 18.  
> All characters are own creations, no original character from the webcomic appears in this work.

‘I hate this rain!’ yelled Sig  
‘Ah quit it, we’ve seen worse!’ replied Renard as they were moving to their next hideout with the rest of the warriors and prisoners.

Two weeks had passed since the attack on Edinmire, there had been losses but many wolves were freed and their duty was to bring them back deep into wolves land.  
Right after the attack, they split into smaller groups and organised the routes of every party of freed prisoners towards pre-established meeting points. Edinmire was far away from the wolves’ forest and they had spent all this time moving and hiding across human territory.  
According to schedule, Sig and Renard were leading the last group and they would soon meet up as planned with a ship on the rugged coast to ease their travel. But three days of endless rain had proven to be a challenge to the nerves, even for Renard. Still, everyone had to remain focused: they were in dangerous territory and needed to stay undetected at all costs. Renard simply couldn’t place all his trust in the shapeshifting magic they had provided to the prisoners, a Keidran in disguise would still remain a Keidran and act like one. 

After two more hours of walking through the never-ending rain, the group reached their small shelter for the night: a small flat area in front of a shallow cave just below some huge rocks, right where it was supposed to be and well hidden out of sight. Another stop for some precarious rest but at least it was out of the rain and, most importantly, the last on firm ground. Everyone was exhausted, food was scarce and lighting a fire was out of the question even if everyone would have wished for some warmth. Renard and Sig were preparing themselves for another night standing guard to prevent danger, another night spent in wet clothes, another restless sleep. 

‘So what are you going to do after that, Fox?’ asked Sig.  
Renard looked at Sig, his hair soaked by the rain, sending him yet another annoyed gaze  
‘How many times have I told you, my name’s Renard, stop calling me by my species, Wolf.’  
‘That doesn’t answer my question’ replied Sig, a smirk on his face.  
‘Well … if you insist on hearing about my plans in the future, I’ll try to make enough money for a couple of years by doing this job and will find a nice place to settle d – ’  
‘No, I’m not asking what you’ll do after the war ends, if it ends and if you survive it… But what you’ll do next when we get there, d’you plan on staying with us for a while or going back south to Foxes’ land?’  
‘Ah, these kinds of plans? Well, I don’t know yet, we still got to get there…’ Renard sighed, ‘I’ll see once this is over, now try to get some sleep, I’ll take the first round.’ 

The next morning everyone was as miserable as they were before: cold, tired and wet.  
But that day they were supposed to reach the end of the walking part of their journey and so, everyone threw in their last strengths and they all kept walking in silence, concealed under their magical human disguises for a few hours before reaching the coast.  
Everyone was relieved to find the ship hidden in a small cove and still waiting for them; everything (or at least most of it) went according to plan, and if the winds favored them, they’d reach safety soon.

‘Good work here Renard,’ Sig said, coming up to the fore where Renard was enjoying a short ray of sunshine after days of pouring rain.  
‘I’ve checked the supplies below deck, everything is fine, we’re good to go.’  
He waited for a reply, but the fox didn’t move.  
Trying to engage some sort of conversation, he didn’t give up:  
‘Hope you negotiated a good pay for that mission, wasn’t easy at all but thanks to you we got out of this mess.’  
Renard turned himself towards him, confusion showing on his face  
‘Did you just thank me?’  
‘Well, I …, yes?’  
‘Heh,’ Renard started laughing a bit, ‘you’re welcome, it’s just my job! That’s what mercenaries do, you know? Get in trouble for money, fight against the odds and still prevail despite the opposition … or die.’  
‘Yeah, yeah, I know that, merc, but is the money really worth risking your life? I mean, we’re at war with them, we have a reason to take such risks, but you as a fox…? I don’t get it!’  
‘Everyone has their own reasons,’ Renard smiled, ‘don’t worry about me.’  
‘I’m not worrying, you are just so different from all the other foxes I’ve ever met. And that’s not just a matter of physical traits.’ 

Renard was indeed one of the tallest foxes ever, about the size of a greater wolf. His fur was not as bright and fiery as that of most other foxes and in poor light he could easily be mistaken for a wolf. The white tip on his tail and black ears would give him away, though. 

‘Everyone has their reasons Sig; let’s get this ship moving, there’s still a long way to go.’


	2. To the north

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthy, half snow tiger, half snow leopard is also one of the mercenaries hired by the wolves for their coup in Edinmire. His path leads him and his freed prisonners to the north and through the mountains.

The night was calm up here in the mountains, the stars were bright, the air was fresh and there were no clouds to see.  
Down below, the moon was beautifully reflected in the lake, some small villages were lit with feeble lights and in the distance, farther from the lake, a human town was discernible. 

It had been some time since the assault on Edinmire; many mercenaries were hired for this job, and Anthy was one of them.  
Nearly everything went according to plan when it came to freeing the wolves from the wolf-pens: the fact that his old friend Renard was part of it conviced Anthy that the job was going to be tough but manageable and, most importantly, well prepared. He still wished he had spent more time with his comrade and now, all alone up in this mountain, he was wondering how Renard's group was faring. 

Anthy's ears twitched as he heard someone trying hard to sneak on him; he already knew who it was.   
‘Pssst, watch'a looking at, big one?’   
The mercenary turned around to lay his eyes on a young she-wolf, one of those who had been freed in Edinmire. His straight face got just a hint softer when he confirmed it was indeed Alita, “Lita”, a very young wolf slave, nearly still just a kid. She had been placed with all the other wolves in the pens after being arrested. Her owners had tried to protest since they had just bought her few weeks before and intended to train her well, but the guards would not hear any of it. 

‘Nothing special,’ he replied, ‘come sit here and have a look if you want’, his white left paw patting the ground next to him.   
‘There, look,’ he started pointing towards the moonlight bathed landscape.   
‘We're coming from this direction: Edinmire is down these mountains; here in front of us you’ve got lake Chasewater, right behind it, the cluster of lights, that’s Witchen. Tomorrow and for some time still, we’re going to move this way through Parapet Ridge and seek cover in the forest, from there … Well, there’s still a long way to go until we get you and all others to your new home.’   
‘Aaaaw’ Lita moaned, ‘but we were home in Edinmire!’   
‘I know, I know little Lita. But things have changed. The humans … they don’t like you, they don’t like us. The wolves have declared war against them, far on the West. So the humans decided to treat all wolves as enemies, even those who were nice and born in human lands like you.’   
‘Bleh, wolves are stupid and humans are stupid, why wouldn’t we live all together and be happy? ’   
‘Well… Heh. You see, some humans and some wolves are mean and just want to enslave each other, for power, for money, for revenge, for whatever they want, actually. And there’s nothing we can do to make them think otherwise.’  
Anthy did his best to explain things to a youngling, he had never been at ease with kids and usually they’d just run away from him, but Lita was genuinely interested in the great Keidran despite his attempts to just somehow scare her away. Not “violent scary” scare but just trying to create some sort of distance. After a while he had to admit to himself that he had failed so he just gave in to it, at some point.   
‘That’s stupid, what about you?’ the small wolf leaned against him, pushing her nose in his thick fur and taking a whiff of the exotic mercenary ‘what are you doing here? Why did you and your friends come to help us?’   
She couldn’t understand why such a Keidran as him would interfere. The only similar ones she’d met were Miss Adira and her daughter Maeve, but even they were strikingly smaller than Anthy, and before meeting the mercenary she thought there could not be other “Snow-whatever’s in the world than the two owning” Edinmire’s Inn.   
‘You’re asking many questions little one, maybe I’ll have time during this journey to tell you how a half Snow Tiger, half Snow Leopard like me got involved in all this, but the story is long and we still need rest, tomorrow there’s a lot of walking planned again.’   
‘But I wanna *yawn* knooow…’   
‘Shh, you’re tired.’ Anthy patted her softly on the head with his large paw. ‘Let’s get you back with the others for the night;’ He lifted her gently up with both hands, as if she weighed nothing, while she gained hold on his clothes. Being carried smoothly and silently like that was the final draw and even before reaching the others, Lita was already fast asleep.

Looking at everyone and quickly checking if all were OK, Anthy addressed all of them with a calm voice:   
‘Good night, all of you; sleep well. Tomorrow’s still a long day and we need to stay focused at all times. I don’t need to remind any of you that if the humans find us, who knows how bad it’ll end.’ Then, while gently laying Lita on the ground he whispered to her ear, ‘Good night little one.’


	3. Sails set

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Southern group is setting sails out into the ocean, Sig tries his best to get to know their moody fox leader Renard better.

The weather was clear and the winds were favorable, so the ship was moving at a good pace and everyone’s mood had lit up since they took to the sea.  
Away from the rain, away from the frightened flight through hostile territory, away from the prisons in Edinmire.  
The small group, led by Renard and Sig, had greatly increased their chances of survival now that they were sailing and all the fugitives were relieved, even though it would still take some time before they reached safe waters.

Sig commanded all the wolves on this ship, and he managed to organize a crew able to man the small vessel despite a great lack of experience. They all worked hand in hand, and the thought of freedom at the end of their journey created a strong bond between them.

There was only one on this ship who wasn’t as happy and light-hearted as everyone else: Renard.  
The fox spent most of his time alone, keeping an eye on the horizon. Despite Sig’s efforts to include him in this newly formed group, Renard would always remain distant. Sig felt many different emotions about it and at the moment, he had reached the step of anger towards his mission partner.

‘You're still not willing to join us today, are you?’  
‘Nope.’  
Sig was irritated  
‘Seriously, Renard, what is wrong with you? We’ve been at sea for several days now, out of danger, sailing at full speed to safety and what are you doing? Nothing! Just standing there without a word, not talking to anyone except me? Why wouldn’t you join us? Do you think you’re better than us?! Who do you think you are?!’  
Sig’s rant kept going  
‘Dude, you helped us save these people, you led us away from Edinmire, you kept everyone safe from the human patrols, you led us to this ship but you never talked to any of them! I’m not even sure you ever took a look at them, why do you ignore them, why?!’ Sig was pointing at the rest of the crew, most were gathering and hoping to get an answer to that.

Renard sighed.

He took a quick look at the pack of frustrated wolves led by the most frustrated of them all: Sig.

‘You want to know why?’ asked Renard with a calm voice.  
‘You all want to know why?’ he yelled loud and clear for all to hear.  
‘I’ll tell you why.’ He paused and made sure everyone would listen.  
‘You, all of you, every single one of you is still in danger. The last days were a relief, but we’re far from being safe. You should concentrate on that and keep focused, this mission isn’t over yet and as long as no one is safe, don’t expect me to lower my guard. My job is to bring you all to wolves’ land, it does not include cruise activity. It might be frustrating to you, but you’ll have to understand that I won’t let leisure or emotions drive me away from my work. Once we are there, we’ll have plenty of time for that but don’t expect anything from me until then.’  
He stood tall and strong waiting for reactions, but the wolves kind of gave up and just turned away from him, going back to their tasks.  
Then he unexpectedly grabbed Sig by the neck and leaned close to his face, baring his teeth and nearly growling a few words  
‘Now if you want to finish this conversation, let’s do this in private.’  
Sig was so surprised and taken aback by the speed of the attack that he could only agree.  
They moved to the captain’s cabin and closed the door.

Sig was shocked, his right hand on his neck.  
‘What the…?’  
‘What was this meant to be?!’ Renard didn’t let him finish.  
‘What were you thinking? Are you out of your mind?! What kind of brilliant idea went through your head to question me like this in front of everyone?’ The look in Renard’s eyes was menacing.  
‘I…’  
’… Have no clue, I’m Sig the wolf and I believe we should all be friends; yay, let’s all be friends ! … Do you know how it feels when you lose your friends?  
“I…?” Sig hadn’t expected that, and the question caught him off guard.  
“You don’t. You obviously don’t. Or else you wouldn’t make ties with all the refugees. Now for one second imagine something went wrong, anything. One dies. Two, three, maybe more, all of them? All your new friends, all these people we planned on saving and for whom we fought so hard to free them from the humans, dead. Starting to get it? Let me add more to that: imagine now that we’re walking on such a thin line that every single moment something could go wrong, leading to these people’s death. Consider that we’ve been REALLY lucky so far to actually reach the ship without any casualties. Imagine that sometimes circumstances force you to choose among them one to sacrifice to save the others. Imagine that, to save them all, you might have to kill one yourself! Does it start sinking in now?”

Sig was speechless, his mind playing all the scenarios Renard brought up and many more

“I… I… Didn’t think of that”  
“Of course you didn’t! Do you think it’s funny to kill someone you’re supposed to protect? Do you think it’s easy to lose someone you’ve befriended? Trust me, IT IS NOT.”  
“But…”  
“There is no ‘but’, there’s a war out there and you should carve into your skull: war is horrible, on all levels. What if we fail at something and end up with a bunch of dead refugees? What if you lost one of them? What if the young brown one, the one helping you on every task, dies? What if the father of the two kids dies? What if it’s one of the kids who gets killed? What if it’s the woman with the bright pelt whom you keep looking at who dies? Did you think I didn’t look at them? I saw them all. I just chose to keep them away!”  
Sig could not take more.  
“I’ll do everything to prevent that! I won’t let it happen! I’ll fight for them!”  
The fox smiled sadly.  
“I know you will, I know. But I also know that sometimes … it just won’t be enough. Trust me.” He paused for a moment while looking through the window “I know all too well.”  
Sig’s ears drooped as he realized how true these words were.  
“… I’ll still do everything I can.”  
“Yes. You will, now start cheering them up and boosting their confidence: good morale is essential for the challenges to come. This good weather, for example, won’t last. Storms are frequent in this area at this time of the year; we’d better be prepared. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll head back to standing watch.”

Renard left the cabin and closed the door, leaving a clueless and confused Sig alone with his thoughts.


	4. At the edge of the woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the northern group reaches the confines of Brandon Woods, finally out of the mountains, Anthy knows new kinds of dangers await ahead. Being the sole trained warrior in this group of fugitives, he'll need to train them quickly if they want to increase their chances of survival.  
> meanwhile, little "Lita" has her own ideas

The air was getting colder, although no one really noticed but Anthy. He could feel it in spite, or maybe because, of his thick white striped and spotted fur.  
It had been long since he went back to the north, and his whole body was eager to feel the cold embrace of snow again, even if it would still be long before that happened.  
Looking back at the group moving with caution through the rocks of Parapet Ridge behind him, he was confident they would make it, even if Brandon Forest ahead was as safe as it was dangerous. Safe from humans, but still menacing because of the many thieves and outlaws this forest harbored.

The sun was setting and the Ridge coming to an end; in front of them stood the massive dark woods. Anthy knew a small covered place to set up their camp and he led all the refugees to it, to spend the night. They have been walking barefoot on rocks for days and everyone was exhausted, some even had minor injuries to their hind legs and paws. To his surprise, Alita was fresh, full of energy and she kept helping the others, especially those who suffered from the long walk. The little one was the ray of sunshine everyone needed to keep their spirits up against all odds, Anthy knew this.

Once every single one was ready for a night of rest on softer ground, Anthy walked amidst all of them.  
‘your attention please, everyone’  
He waited until all were quiet and listening.  
‘We’re at the edge of Brandon Woods, from here we’ll have to change our habits: the woods are free from human patrols but still infested with outlaws; the threat will be less powerful but also less obvious. Please, I insist on the few pieces of advice I’m giving you now. Your life depends on them, so listen carefully: everyone must keep walking on the same trail I’ll open, traps are scattered everywhere so mind your step. Stay together and remain as silent as possible. If you spot something weird, whisper to the person in front of you, who’ll tell to the one before them and so on, until it reaches the front of our group.  
We are not many suited for combat, but we should be able to repel any ill-advised thief. If we’re in trouble, DO NOT RUN if I don’t tell you so. It won’t be easy on the nerves, I know, but we’ll make it through it if we stick together. My job is to keep you all safe, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it so.’

All agreed, looking at one another and at him; they all knew that their survival was linked to their ability to work together and who else than wolves could work best in a pack?

‘I’ll need three volunteers to keep watch tonight,’ added Anthy,  
‘I've watched every single one of you all the time, and I know who’ll be most suited for the task but I still need you to volunteer for that.’  
Several wolves stood up, those he had identified during the last few days were amongst them and he wasn’t disappointed.  
After a briefing of three volunteers, Anthy left the first one alone for the beginning of the night and, hoped he could enjoy one full night of sleep.

He then found a spot from which he could very quickly react if there were any trouble and he just lay down. It was the first time in weeks that he could take a rest and his body could barely take any more, sleeping had become necessary.  
Drifting away, Anthy still noticed movement close to him; knowing all too well it wasn’t a threat, he didn’t raise his guard.  
He didn’t expect it to be Alita, and to make things even more surprising, the young wolf snuggled up against him.  
‘what’s that now, little one?’ he whispered  
‘It's cold and you’re warm.’  
‘…. Huh?’  
‘And with you, I feel safe.’  
‘Erm… Okay.’

The white tiger didn’t know what to do, feeling awkward and uncomfortable by this invasion of his personal space, his ears were drawn to the back of his head as a sign of disapproval.  
But he couldn’t find it in his heart to chase her away: she was young and had no family, not even amongst the other wolves.  
He sighed.  
Maybe Alita took this as a sign of approval, maybe she just ignored it and simply didn’t care. She grabbed his arm to lay it over herself, took his paw between her fingers and squeezed it against her body through her crossed arms, like a doll, to keep herself warm.  
Since Anthy couldn’t shrug his shoulders, his long fluffy tail had to compensate and it bounced around a bit, a sign of nervousness, before calming down.

‘Well, if you think so. Good night little one.’

He pulled her closer and closed his eyes, oblivious of the smile on Alita’s face.


	5. The storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Southern group, at sea, encounters a major problem : a storm.  
> Things get out of hand as the unexperienced makeshift crew struggles against the elements.

They were heading straight to the storm since they could not avoid it.  
Curtains of heavy rain were masking the sight, waves were wild and the ship was shaking from the waters’ assault.

Everyone who wasn’t strong enough to man their post had taken cover between decks; children, women and elderly wolves were hugging each other in fear of the mighty elements raging around their frail vessel.  
On deck things were already complicated and to make things worse, the strong winds were so loud that the crew could barely communicate.  
Sig held the wheel, struggling with the brute force of the storm to keep his course, Renard kept giving orders despite the crashing waves flushing everyone off their feet.  
The sails had been brought in to prevent damage, but on top of the mast the last one was stuck: the rope had entangled itself and every effort from the ground to set it loose again was vain.  
With that much pressure up the mast, it would either soon break or push the ship over; they had to act quickly to avoid sinking.  
Noticing the struggles of two wolves trying to fix this, Renard bolted to the mast

‘Bring it back!’  
‘We can’t! It’s stuck.’  
Renard looked up through the rain and saw the deadly knot, several meters up high, he turned his attention to Sig still struggling to keep control but who had seen the same problem and they both nodded.  
‘Hold this,’ he yelled at one of the wolves, handing him a rope all while the waves kept crashing on them.  
‘Bind it tight right now, hold it as strongly as you can, DON’T LET GO!’  
He then grabbed a knife and placed it between his teeth before beginning to climb the mast.  
His claws digging deep in the wood to keep himself from falling, he moved up at good speed despite struggling hard against the water and the wind.  
He could barely see, but he knew the knot was high up there. Ignoring the fact that he could be swept away in an instant and thrown into the sea to meet his certain death, he dragged himself up while the ship started leaning dangerously to the side. He knew he had only one chance, or else they’d all be doomed.

Sig couldn’t really see what was going on up the mast; he tried to look but all he could distinguish in the violent rain was some blurred shadow moving to the top of it. He really hoped Renard would cut the sail loose: if he failed they’d tip over and that would be it. The ship was leaning on the side and, with the huge waves, he even thought for a moment that he was looking up at the sea instead of down.  
And then a wave grew in front of them, ‘the’ wave. The devastating wall of water, bigger than the ship, was going to overwhelm them. If they didn’t reach the tip of it before it was too late, they’d be thrown away like dirt in the wind, to make matters worse Sig knew that with this sail hindering the ship he could not hope to get through it, it would be the end of them.

It was just at this moment that Sig felt the side pressure vanishing, he knew Renard had freed the vessel and he quickly reacted to bring the ship in a better position.  
‘Brace yourselves! ’ he yelled at the top of his lungs as they hit the wave.  
The time seemed to stop; if the ship endured such violent treatment, they would make it. If not, this was the end.  
The brute force of the water wall rushed with all its might over deck, washing everything away that wasn’t tightly secured. Wolves were gritting their teeth as they struggled to hold their grip, their claws leaving marks in the wood. Below deck everyone was quiet; the noise from the outside was deafening, and all held their breath.  
The ship’s structure emitted a deep plaintive howl under the pressure, a sound they would never forget.

To the crew’s luck, their ship held. They managed to overcome the tip of the wave by somehow plunging through it. The storm was still raging but they gained back control and could now navigate out of it.  
Sig was laughing as hard as he could, not believing he had survived this, he howled and the others howled back in some sort of cry of relief and victory.  
Then he looked up through the tremendous rain to see the blurred shadow of Renard climbing down the mast, the Fox had made it.

But there was no shadow to see.

His laughter died in his throat.

‘Renaaaaard? Renaaaaard! Fox overboard! Fox overboard!’  
The others just noticed it too, someone was missing and panic spread like a wildfire.  
All those who still were on deck leaned over the sides of the ship, against all instinct of self-preservation, to try to spot the lost crew member in the boiling ocean. But none could see anything.  
After minutes of desperate search, they had to come to realize that they just lost Renard.

Sig appointed someone else on the wheel and ran to the two wolves who were with him, yelling, as loudly as he could, for his voice to come through the awful weather.  
‘What happened? What did he do? Why didn’t you see him fall?! ’  
The bigger wolf shook his head and replied he had no clue.  
The second wolf was still holding tight on the rope Renard told him not to lose and couldn’t tell more.  
Sig followed the rope with his eyes, noticed a big knot tied to the ship’s board side and plunging into the raging sea on the other side. With tension. Something was attached at the end of it.  
His instinct kicked in and he ordered both to pull with him.  
‘Pull! Pull it! We need to bring it back to the ship.’  
Their efforts cut wounds in the smaller wolf’s paws, he let a scream of pain out, the voice was higher pitched, and Sig came to understand that this wolf was in fact female: the sight was so low he hadn’t noticed earlier. Ignoring this information for now, he kept pulling the heavy load, without seeing what it was but convinced by his gut that it was important.  
They reached the end of it and pulled the attached load back on board, it was wrapped in washed out cloth. Sig removed it with haste and discovered some dark fur inside.  
Shock appeared on all three crew members’ faces.  
‘Quick, bring him inside! Now! ’

The female wolf was dripping blood from her paws, the inanimate washed out fox had also a cut wound to the arm and his nose was bleeding too, but with the help of the bigger wolf they managed to drag themselves to safety while Sig ran back to the steering wheel.

Once below deck, without all the rain blocking their sight, they could see what a mess the storm had created, crates had flown all around the place and water had come inside. They were greeted by all those who had taken shelter down there and all quickly tended to their wounds.

Renard was in a bad shape, bruised and cut, and half dead. That sly fox had managed to tie the rope to his belt.  
The wounded wolf gave instructions all while having her hands bandaged.  
‘Turn him on his back, push his chest with your paws and blow air into his lungs, DO IT! ’ she growled in frustration because no one knew how to do this before bolting ‘Let me handle it! ’  
‘Lucy, wait! ’ one of the elders was trying to take care of her hands but she ignored him as she jumped up and pushed everyone aside to throw herself at the inanimate fox.  
She ripped his shirt off and began pushing as hard as she could on his chest, multiple strokes, then blowing all the air she could through the fox’s mouth before repeating the operation two or three times, the blood of her hands staining the fox’s white chest.  
He coughed.  
He coughed really hard and expelled water  
‘Quick, lay him on his side, HURRY! ’  
Turned on his uncut flank, Renard began coughing even more and water came out through his mouth.  
He then released a small moan, shortly opened his eyes to see blurry wolf faces looking down at him … before drowning back in darkness.

Renard opened his eyes, the air was fresh and the sea seemed calm, he realized soon that he was lying in the captain’s cabin and tried to move a limb.  
He felt awful. His body was aching all over and he released a feeble moan of disapproval when he realized he couldn’t move; not only did he feel broken, but he also had a terrible headache which led him to close his eyes again.

A paw placed itself on his forehead; he didn’t know where it came from and since his head was painful he didn’t want to open his eyes. He just moaned again.

‘It’s OK, don’t worry’  
Unfamiliar with this feminine voice, Renard was clueless and lost  
‘Aergh. What happened? Who are you?’  
‘We’re safe and out of the storm Renard, I'll call Sig and tell him you’re awake.’  
‘Bleh… Wait, who ARE you? ’ He still couldn’t bear opening his eyes to look.  
‘Name’s Lucy, I’m one of the refugees you’ve helped so far.’  
‘Ah,’ he paused and turned his nose in her general direction, still with eyes closed ‘well … thank you.’

He couldn’t see her smile before she turned around to go get Sig.


	6. Into the woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inside Brandon Woods, Anthy's group tries their best to avoid detection. Still, they did not go unnoticed.

The routine was now well oiled: during daylight they would all march as silently as possible in a long row. At nightfall, Anthy would find and secure a perimeter to set a camp.  
At least six guards would then take turns, always in pairs, to watch over everyone.  
Anthy himself would randomly wake up and help out.  
He trusted the ones he trained and he knew they were as interested in staying alive as he was.  
As always, if everyone works together, everyone survives.

This night Anthy decided he had enough sleep, opening his eyes he immediately identified Lita’s fur in front of him: the little one had taken the habit of sleeping in his arms. He didn’t mind anymore.  
Carefully pushing himself away from her, he couldn’t prevent the young wolf from letting out a small moan of disapproval, he appeased her by patting her head and tucking her in with his own blanket, still warm from his body.  
He usually didn’t use this piece of cloth very often, he only pulled it out when there’s thick snow on the ground. But he thought that would be a good thing for the frail wolf since she had decided he was the best pillow around, to keep her warm.

Stretching himself while standing up, his senses were quickly as sharp as ever. The night was clear and the stars could be seen through the canopy. This area of the forest was a bit lighter, more space between the trees made it easier to see incoming problems.  
He approached the two guards in silence; they were well concealed and kept their eyes and ears wide open.

Anthy was standing a few steps behind them, then he moved his tail on a long arc.  
The swish made a slightly dampened noise which the guards picked up.  
Trained and used to it now, they both moved their left hand, without turning their attention away from the whereabouts, as a sign that they heard and identified the Snow Tiger. Then, with a small gesture, they invited him to come closer.

Anthy got to their level and whispered:  
‘Everything all right?’  
Both nodded slightly to notify their approval  
Anthy was about to add something when he noticed something strange. Did that branch over there just move by itself?

His heart kicked into overdrive, pumping hard in his chest. The two guards didn’t notice at first the change in the mercenary’s stance but they realized soon enough something was wrong.  
All three held their weapons tighter.

‘Stay here’ whispered Anthy before vanishing in the darkness of the forest behind them.  
They tried their best to keep track of their guide, but his heritage, made from two of the stealthiest hunters ever, was just too strong.  
All they could do was to stay focused on the area he pointed at before leaving them.  
The following moments were way too silent, the guards struggled with all their might to stay alert and calm, fear would be catastrophic and panic could be deadly. They had to hold their position, ready to fight whatever could be in front of them.

Anthy, in the meantime, had quickly and silently performed a wide movement to bring himself on a better spot: he was now facing the guards, with the dangerous area placed between him and them. Whatever was hiding there knew what it was doing: Anthy noticed that the very light wind was blowing into his face.  
This meant he could pick up the scent of all the wolves ahead of him, but there was another scent coming from that direction, very light, that only trained hunters like him would have been able to notice.  
He decided to close in, guided by all his acute senses. He moved in such a strong and powerful yet gracefully silent way that he soon reached his target.  
He was lying down on the ground, cloaked, armed, a Keidran of the feline persuasion.  
Whoever it was didn’t notice Anthy, too busy spying on the guards.  
And he certainly never expected to hear someone whisper in his ear.

‘I see you’ve gotten better’  
Shocked but well trained, the feline didn’t even squeak.  
Instead he just rolled over in silence, knowing far too well he had not just been busted, but he also wouldn’t stand a chance against one of his former teachers.  
Whispering back, he replied  
‘Curse you! What are you doing here? We thought you were on business! Don’t ruin my job!’  
Anthy laid down next to the other feline, a snow leopard.  
‘It’s OK, Levy, don’t worry; what are you up to?’  
‘Eh… ’ he hesitated, ‘Ah, shoot it, I can tell you: those wolves are crossing our territory, they’re well organized, Nova thinks they’re a threat and sent me to gather intel.’  
‘Oh, Nova? Is she in charge now?’  
‘Yeah, Gromps gave up two years ago, he was fed up of the task and, since you left, the council decided she’d be best suited to lead us.’  
‘Well, I should pay a visit and my respects to the new queen of Brandon Forest then.’  
‘Sure, but … since you’re here, could you help me with this mission first?’  
‘I’ll help you Levy, but you’ll have to listen carefully to what I’m going to tell you: these wolves are my business, I’m leading them through here. ’ Levy’s eyes opened up in surprise.  
‘Wait… What?’  
‘Go back to the others, tell Nova they’re no threat: they’re just a bunch of refugees from human lands I’m paid to bring back home to wolf land. We’re just passing by, heading north. Once this is finished, I’ll come back and share my earnings with all the others. ’  
‘Wu-whaaat? Are you kidding me? You can’t possibly be with them, I would have noticed!’  
Anthy was surprised Levy never spotted him, he used to be very good at this. But then Anthy realized why… Lita! He chuckled then pulled Levy closer to him.  
‘Check this out. ’  
‘Whoa wait what?! Yuk! You reek of wolf, no wonder! … Wait, does that mean … did you…?’  
‘Keep an orphaned wolf safe by holding her in my arms? Yes. Here, take this’ Anthy cut a puff of his pelt behind his left ear and handed it over to Levy.  
‘Take it to Nova, she’ll know your story is true and that I gave you my word. You’re all safe, let my group move on and it won’t take long before leaving the area.’  
‘Oookay, we’ll let you through safe and clear but I have to warn you: the north is dangerous.’  
‘I know’  
‘I don’t doubt it, but our sentinels reported that there were more this year, be very careful, cousin.’  
‘You too, Cousin, thanks for the heads up. Please greet everyone in my name when you get there. And keep on practicing, you’re good but can still make some improvement.’  
‘Heh, we’ll see next time we meet.’

Levy stood back up on all fours and vanished in the forest; Anthy’s trained eye could still follow him for a while and, admiring his technique like only true experts could, he thought to himself that the young leopard would once be one of the best hunters. Satisfied he returned to the camp.

The two guards were nervous but still in place, they both raised their weapons once they spotted Anthy who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They were more than relieved to see him again and then tried to contain their curiosity but failed to whisper properly:  
‘What happened? What was there? Was there something?’  
Anthy raised his hand to try calming them down.  
‘No worries my friends, we’re all safe for tonight. Let the last two take their turn and go to sleep, I'll explain everything to all of you tomorrow: the next days should be safer from now on.’  
The two wolves were confused and looked at each other, then looked back at Anthy, then back at each other  
‘Listen Tiger, if this is some kind of trick you’re playing or some other weird stuff, we’re warning you.’  
Anthy sighed  
‘Seriously?’  
‘Yeah, we mean it, betray us and you’re dead.’  
Anthy shook his head  
‘Yeah, yeah, fine, don’t trust me, fair enough, I'll go back to sleep. But before you consider murdering me while I rest, keep in mind that I’m your only guide and contact to bring all of you back to wolf land.’

The two guards were even more confused now and could only watch a confident Anthy get back to his sleeping spot.

The snow tiger got down on the ground next to Lita. She was asleep but noticed when he lay down next to her, she turned to face him before dragging herself as close as possible to his body and soft fur, she then lifted the blanket to cover both of them up and laid her head on his fluffy chest. Anthy placed his arms around her and hugged the small wolf.  
Half asleep, with her nose dug in deep in his pelt she mumbled  
‘Mmhm … smell funny, met someone?’  
Anthy smiled and pet her head with his soft paw  
‘Yes little one … family’  
He held her tighter.


	7. When the skies clear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renard has payed a heavy toll with that storm and is still recovering. To his own surprise he finds himself in good hands

‘Hey? She said you were awake, are you sleeping again?’  
The only reply was a plaintive growl.  
‘Oh, it’s all right, I can come back later.’  
The hissing sigh coming from the end of the cabin let Sig hesitate.  
‘Yeah, well, just so you know, we’re happy you’re still with us.’  
A feeble voice was to be heard.  
‘Cut it Sig, what happened?’  
‘Well, what do you remember?’  
‘Not much: rain, storm, some kind of problem’  
‘Is that it?’ Sig was surprised ‘is that all you remember?’  
‘Hmpf’  
‘Well, what I remember is that I was struggling with the rudder; we brought the sails in, but the top one was stuck. Because of the strong winds it was only a matter of a short time and we’d have lost the mast or worse: the whole ship. Lucy told me you instructed her to tighten a rope you gave her and to never let it go. She did. She did great, even, but I’ll come back to it later. You climbed up and somehow freed the mast just in time: we were facing a huge wave and if I had not gained back control of the ship thanks to your action we’d all be fish food now. I suppose the impact has thrown you away from the mast and into the sea. If it weren’t for Lucy, you’d be lost. Heck, the girl even hurt her paws deep while pulling you back on deck. But she ignored the pain, the elders below deck told me: she reanimated you by pushing your chest with her bleeding paws and blowing air into your lungs.’  
‘Oh…’  
‘And since then, well, we’ve been out of the storm for four days. She could not work on the deck because she was injured, but she volunteered to take care of your busted butt after the work of the healer we have on board.’  
Another sigh came from the patched up fox.  
‘Where is she?’  
‘Waiting outside.’  
‘Bring her in?’  
Sig nodded and went back to the door, he waved at Lucy for her to come back in and left the cabin

‘Lucy?’ Renard’s voice was weak. ‘Is that you?’ He turned around and opened his eyes to look at her, he noticed her bandaged paws.  
‘Yes Renard, I told you, I’m Lucy.’  
‘Sig told me what you did. All of it… Thank you’  
‘It's nothing really, I just did what you told me.’  
‘No, you did more than that: you saved my pelt, I owe you now.’  
‘Oh c’mon, you owe me nothing, remember you saved us from the prisons in Edinmire? It’s the least I could do.’  
‘It's not the same, it’s my work. You… You’re not obligated to do anything like that towards me.’  
She sat down next to him and started looking at his wounds, checking for the bandages which would soon have to be changed. With what little supplies they had on board, they had still managed to do a decent work in healing him, the rest was up to his body.  
‘I’m not, it’s true. But I want to’

Renard let out a deep sigh again.  
‘It just feels weird to me. It’s all I’m saying. Usually… Always. It’s always me who tries to take care of the others, it shouldn’t be the other way round.’  
‘Now will you stop, Grumpy Fox? You're injured. You came close to death, took all the risks and nearly paid it with your life for our survival. You can’t expect me to let you play the sacrificed hero all day. You took care of us so far; now I take care of you.’ she paused, ‘now move that fluffy tail, I need to change your bandages’

Renard felt awkward and absolutely not at ease  
‘Lucy?’  
‘What?’  
‘No one's ever taken care of me during the last couple of years.’  
‘there’s always a first time; roll over’  
He rolled on his back, fully awake now, his body hurting everywhere. But that could not prevent him from looking at Lucy. Her eyes were blue, not quite common with wolves. She was tall, lightly built, an agile frame.  
‘What are you looking at, mister grumpy fox?’  
‘You. I’m looking at you. I want to see who saved my life, I want to keep that face, those blue eyes, engraved in my memory.’  
She blushed a little bit, she didn’t expect that, Renard’s words had caught her off guard.  
He took her bandage-covered right paw, pulled it close to his nose and before she could react he placed a kiss on it.  
‘Miss Lucy, thanks for being here for me.’  
She pulled her hand away.  
‘Hey stop that, Mr. Grumpy Fox, I’m just here to take care of a crazy wounded mercenary who deserves some rest. Pro tip: maybe next time you should reconsider taking on a storm AND the sea altogether at once, something tells me it might be too much even for a well-trained fox. Lucky this time you got awesome back-up’ she pointed her thumb towards her chest and started smiling.  
Renard chuckled and even laughed a bit, this led to both laughing together  
But Renard was quickly caught back by the pain, throwing a shadow of worries over Lucy’s face.  
‘What's wrong? Are you all right?’  
Renard coughed but smiled.  
‘Heh, don’t worry: I know what that is, it’s a broken rib. You called me grumpy? Well, looks like I'll have to stick to being grumpy for as long as the rib is loose,’ he smiled. ‘So please doctor, no more jokes… They crack me up’

Lucy could not resist laughing at this bad pun.  
‘Mister Grumpy Fox, as your doctor I recommend you quit such habits. You’ll see: giving up bad jokes will feel like getting something … off your chest.’ She chuckled again, Renard chuckled as well as he could (and it wasn’t much).  
Both smiled while looking at each other.

‘Now seriously, how’s everyone else, did others get hurt by the storm?’  
‘Stop worrying so much, all are fine. By the way I thought you didn’t really care about us, guess I was wrong. And apart from a few minor cuts and bruises they’re all in top shape. Well, except me, of course.’  
‘And what about you? Your paws?’ He grabbed her again, trying to look at the damages caused.  
‘I’ve burnt and cut myself deep with that rope, you were heavy, all soaked up, you know. But I think it was worth it. I’m just glad Sig realized so fast what was at the end of this fishing line … you make poor bait you know?’ She chuckled again.  
Renard thought to himself that it was cute, he even surprised himself thinking she was cute. He smiled.  
‘Heh, that’s something I always thought but didn’t want to try, guess now it’s confirmed: don’t fish with a fox on the hook.’  
Both smiled.

Renard felt suddenly exhausted, he didn’t expect that  
‘Lucy, I’m struggling against sleep and won’t be able to hold up much longer… I’m sorry if I fall out.’  
‘It’s OK mister Grumpy Fox, don’t worry about it: it’s just a side effect of what we mixed up to deal with your injuries and repair the damages of your body. It makes you sleep.’  
He started to fade away but still managed to slip a few words  
‘Pleazzz… Stayzzz…’

She put her paw on his head, petting him a little bit, his fur was soft and shiny even though he went through all of this.  
‘I'll stay, Mr. Fox, I'll stay.’


	8. Hard truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthy, trying his best to keep his group focused and trusting his judgment has to come clear on some things.  
> Alita has a hard time dealing with some of these truths.

In the morning Anthy gathered the whole group, still keeping his voice down

‘Your attention please, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. There’s been a … Development last night, our guards did an awesome job and with their help I spotted an intruder.’  
The crowd immediately showed nervousness, but Anthy raised his hands to calm them down.  
‘You don’t know me much and I owe you some details about my past. Please listen carefully and let me finish before you raise questions.’  
He looked at every single one of the wolves, including the two guards and Lita.  
‘I once lived in this forest. In a clan of outcasts. We survived being thieves and fighting other rogues. It was neither glorious nor great, it was survival. I managed to rise from this by becoming a mercenary thanks to someone I consider a great friend. He helped free you in Edinmire. The thing is, we’ve entered the territory of my former clan. The intruder from last night was part of this clan and… Of my family. They thought we’d be a new clan and a threat, but we’re just passing by. They granted us safe passage, on my word.’

The wolves were questioning each other, surprised by this unexpected change, Anthy called again for their attention

‘Please, let me finish. I know this is unexpected, it is it as well for me. Now let me get this straight: my work here is to bring you, every single one of you, safely to wolf land. I’ll get paid, and part of this pay will be redistributed to my former comrades here. This is my business and should not be a matter to you, I just wanted it to be clear to avoid rumors or a loss of trust. So where’s the good news? The good news is that for a couple of days we have our minds free from the pressure of danger. Let’s value these moments, they’re precious and will be valuable for our spirits.’

The wolves started talking all together, many questions were raised, but they agreed on being relieved by the fact that they were temporarily safe.

‘Now for the bad news…’  
All went quiet.  
‘We're heading up north, our route has to go through the northern part of the forest. This is beyond the control of my friends and I’ve been warned last night that the threats it harbors have grown. Remember what I told you before we entered this forest? Well, that applies even more to the last part.’

Lita spoke up  
‘What kinds of threats?’  
Anthy was hoping no one would ask, sadly it had to be her  
‘Thieves, murderers, crazy folk but mostly… Ferals.’

The silence these words spread within the wolves was deafening.  
They all knew stories about feral Keidran, poor souls broken by slavery or by the Templar, but until now, most of them just thought they were tales to frighten agitated children.

‘This can’t be, they’re just stories, they don’t exist!’ fear and disbelief were written on Lita’s face.  
Anthy went to her, placed his paw on her shoulder; his eyes were filled with sadness.  
‘As much as I would love for you to be right, I know from my own experience that they are far too real.’  
He turned to the ones next to him  
‘And before you ask, no, there’s no other road. Let’s enjoy the time we have, gather as much energy as we can while we’re safe, I even know a perfect spot a couple of hours from here where we could set for a good night of sleep. Careful, though, traps are still laid out everywhere so watch your step closely. Now please pack your things, we’re leaving.’

He looked for Alita but couldn’t see her, quickly he looked around the whole group to find her but she was missing.

‘oh, one moment, please’  
A look on the ground and he found light traces of her footsteps, they were easy to spot because of their smaller size. He followed the trail hoping she hadn’t gone too far, by the look of it, she hadn’t run.  
And indeed, she just isolated herself from the others, sitting with her back against a tree.

‘Lita, are you all right?’ Even though he could obviously tell she wasn’t, he didn’t know how else to ask.  
‘Ferals don’t exist’  
Surprised he didn’t really know what to answer  
‘… They do, sadly’  
‘They don’t!’ She screamed at him, tears in her eyes, Anthy was shocked.  
‘Oh, little one, what’s wrong?’  
He leaned down to get to her height  
‘Listen, you don’t need to tell me. I won’t ask questions, I just want you to trust me.’ He reached out to her with his paw: ‘Will you trust me?’  
Alita jumped into his arms crying, she held him as tight as she could and Anthy hugged her as well as he could in return. Standing here for a while and petting her in silence until she calmed down. He then held her by her hand, raised her chin so that she’d look in his eyes and see the concern about her written on his face.  
‘Please, would you come with us? I don’t want to lose you in this forest, trust me it’s not a good place to grow up.’

She agreed and they both returned to the group.

She followed him by the tail all day until they reached some kind of little heaven.  
A river crossed the forest and a local change in topography created a small waterfall followed by a larger pond.  
The sun was shining even if it started to decline, a southern wind brought warm air.  
Anthy authorized the lighting of a campfire, and many wolves took the opportunity to bathe. It did a lot of good to everyone’s feelings.  
Once the sun was set, they were all sitting next to the warming fire and, soon, all went to sleep.

And then Anthy decided he’d go take a bath, Levy was right: he was covered in wolves’ scent and even if he got used to it, he still needed this moment of comfort.  
He undressed in silence, unnoticed by all and slipped into the water. His Tiger half was boiling with childish excitement, as lost memories bound to this pond came back up in his mind. It was one of the few ‘fun’ parts of his childhood here, splashing, laughing with the few friends he had, discovering new things and new feelings… Like his first kiss.  
He popped out of his daydream when two frail arms hugged him from behind. It was Lita, she joined him in his bath and was now resting her cheek against his back.  
‘What are you doing here, little one?’  
‘I needed company, big one’  
He tried to turn around but she held tight in place  
‘Shhh … stay here and don’t look, I’m not wearing any clothes either.’  
Anthy’s face turned red, luckily no one could notice.  
‘I'll tell you what, big one: you tell me your story and I'll tell you mine.’  
The tone in her voice sure was more assertive than what he was used to.  
‘Oookay, what do you want to know?’  
Lita started rubbing his muscular back  
‘Your family here, how did you end up in this forest?’  
‘Well, it’s as simple as it is sad, you sure you want to know?’  
‘yes, big one’  
‘My snow tiger mother was supposed to marry another tribe’s warlord. He was brutal and stupid. She fled. While trying to find shelter she met my snow leopard father by mistake in a cave during a snowstorm. He was supposed to spy on the warlord’s tribe for the leopards but was trapped by the weather, she was just outside and exhausted. He found her, took care of her, brought her comfort and… Love to her. I was born some time later. The warlord was outraged that his betrothed wife had ditched the deal and sent war bands across the land. Eventually, after months of searching, they picked up on my parents’ trail. They fled with me in their arms until the day they caught us. Both my parents fought hard, but at some point my mother got injured and taken down, she begged my father to take me and run away. He didn’t want to leave her alone, but the others had reinforcements coming up. He still hesitated. That’s when my mother pushed him away, he tripped and fell … downhill. With me in his arms. Before he could climb back up to help, she was struck down and captured alive. He never got over it, even though he tried to start a new life, he raised me the best he could within his family, his parents and his sister. The warlord being cruel and beating everyone into submission, we were forced to flee. Sickness and accidents took their toll and my aunt decided we should cross the sea to find a better place. It was this forest. We met up with other Keidran and became a clan.’

The silence following Anthy’s tale spoke for himself.  
‘You still there, little one?’  
Lita was still there, but she was quiet and just holding him tight for a moment.  
‘What happened to your mother…?’

Anthy let out a long sigh.  
‘Well, many years later I joined a mercenary fox called Renard, he and his crew hired me for their mission up north. Their goal was to find and kill the warlord, you bet I wanted in! Within months of hit-and-run skirmishes against his troops, we finally isolated him and struck him down. With the loss of their leader, they all disbanded. I interrogated the wounded left behind and one told me what my mother had to endure under the wrath of the warlord. I won’t describe it to you, just that… Just that in the end her mind broke. She turned feral and was released, chased like a beast.’  
He paused.  
‘I tried to find her. I did after a year. She still matched somehow my father’s description of her, but she had lost that spark in her eyes. She brought me down in the process but somehow stopped before the killing blow, maybe she recognized my scent deep inside her memory, maybe something else I don’t know, and never will. She ran away and left me there, wounded and broken. I went “home” to tell my father, his sorrow was deep. Like I said, he never got over it and it slowly drained his will to live until the end. That’s it, end of the story.’  
He turned around, Lita had loosened her grip. He stood there, tall and strong in the moonlit pond, the young wolf was facing him, tears in her eyes. He lifted her up, out of the water. Took her in his arms and brought her back on land to dry their fur next to the warm fire.  
They sat there under the stars and in the quiet night, close to each other for a while, in silence, looking into the flames. Lita pushing her face as much as possible against his body while he kept petting her.


	9. Recovering at sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renard tries to get back on his feet as quickly as possible and since the days are calm, the crew takes the opportunity to start training. Lucy, while still tending to Renard's wounds, appears to be the best student and soon enough things escalate quickly.

Within a couple of days, and with the intensive care of his volunteer nurse applying the mixtures which were prepared with the crew’s wolf healers, Renard was making good progress getting back on track.  
He could walk again and was recovering from his injuries.  
Lucy’s paws were healing at a great pace and she would soon have all her abilities back.

For a moment, Renard surprised himself feeling at peace. The days were warm, the ship sailed steadily, and he sort of bonded with Lucy. Not knowing exactly what was going on, he always felt happy to see her and be with her.  
Obviously, she felt the same.

He took his time during these days to get to know the rest of the refugee crew, not too much but enough to reinforce their ‘pack’ feeling.  
With the time passing by and their wounds fading away, Renard decided it might be a good idea to teach Lucy how to fight. He didn’t like the fact that she had grown on him, his mind told him to cut it before it was too late and too dangerous … but his heart didn’t want to listen.  
So instead of trying to always protect her, he decided that she had to learn how to protect herself.

With the help of Sig, Renard organized training sessions, not just privately but with all who volunteered.  
Many did, this forced them to schedule their activity without depleting the crew handling the ship and they divided the classes in several groups.  
Lucy, after hearing Renard’s offer to train her, would attend them all. She did not ask for Renard’s advice on that and decided on her own.

To Renard’s pleasant surprise, a few wolves were already well trained or had natural talents in handling weapons. He encouraged them in sharing their knowledge to their classmates and corrected the errors they made by demonstrating the mistakes and dangers of their moves.  
A bit more than two weeks after the storm and his blackout, Renard was satisfied that he had not just increased drastically the crew’s fighting ability in such short time, but it also helped him to overcome his injuries. Sparring, at the end of the sessions, was his favorite part: he could see how much everyone had improved and could guide them with an expert eye and accurate advice.  
During the course of these few days, Lucy had even built up the confidence to try him. This, of course, pleased the fox greatly.  
She was fast and agile while he was still not in top shape, but despite her efforts she never got past his guard. With all means she kept trying to hit the bright fur and took risks. Too many risks. Renard did not fail to exploit these flaws: more than once did she end up on her rear or losing her weapon.  
By the end of this day, Renard smiled: she had not been caught off guard once  
‘you’ve gotten good, really’  
She swung her sword dangerously close but Renard already dodged.  
‘I know, but still not good enough I see.’  
She parried his counterattack  
‘That'll still take some time. You’re on the right path, you’ll get there soon enough’ Renard dodged another swing.  
‘There's got to be some way… ’  
This time it was Lucy who dodged the attack  
‘Some way to whACK! ?’  
For the first time ever against her, Renard did not see her move coming: Lucy had just made up an attack on his left side while in reality she was attacking him in the face from the right side. With her tail.  
It hit.  
And as swift as she was, she took advantage of this opening to enter Renard’s guard, pushing him off his feet  
‘Yikes!’  
Triumphant, she stood above him, savoring her victory in the setting sun.  
Renard looked at her from below. With this scenery, the wind in her hair and the lights of the sun, she was majestic. He knew at this moment, looking deep in her happy blue eyes while she smiled at him, that his life just became a lot more complicated because feelings were now involved. His heart was beating hard in his chest.  
He stood up, congratulated her for this move, raising her arm as tonight’s winner, dismissed the class and went to rest in his cabin where he could change the remaining bandages that were still crossing his torso.

It didn’t take long for Lucy to join him  
‘I told you to wait for me to help you with these, Mr. Fox, let me take care of that.’  
She touched Renard’s side and started removing the bandages, he raised his arms for her to reach the front of his chest and turned around to face her. She carefully removed the part covering his wound on his flank and once it was freed, her hand reached for a wet cloth to clean it up. After a brief moment of facing each other head to head in silence, looking in each other’s eyes, they just rushed their lips together to engage in a passionate kiss.  
The explosion of sensations, combined with days of built-up frustration that they were unaware of having, turned their embrace in a storm of furious passion.  
Jumping at each other, they knocked over whatever was in their way and quickly turned the place into a mess.

Completely oblivious of what was going on in there, Sig was heading to Renard’s cabin like every evening to discuss with the fox which course they’ll take for the night.  
In his defense he did knock, but they were just way too busy to hear it.  
He opened the door, laid a foot inside and in the same movement he realized what was happening, his mind told him he didn’t want to be there. So, without stopping his momentum, he turned around, closed the door behind him and went back on deck saying, ‘Nope!’ with the most awkward look on his face.

It was only next morning that Renard reappeared, Sig had spent the night on the bar steering the ship. Nearly everyone else was still asleep apart from those who were keeping watch, as soon as he saw the Fox he could not refrain teasing him.

‘Had a good night, Renard? ’  
‘Huh? Why are you up so early? Wait, did you spend the night here? What happened? ’  
Sig replied sarcastically:  
‘Weeeeeeell, last evening I was heading to your cabin as usual to discuss our nightly course.’  
‘Oh-ooooh… ’  
‘There, I knocked on the door… ’  
Renard’s facial expression sunk from surprise to … unpleasant surprise  
‘Ooooooh no … wait, as usual you knocked? ’  
Sig’s smile widened.  
‘And as usual I entered right away’  
Renard placed his palm on his face in shame  
‘please tell me you didn’t stay’  
‘Oh no buddy, I noped the hell out of there at full speed, did you guys not even notice?’  
‘Heh,’ Renard began to chuckle. ‘I’m sorry about that, my friend, I thought we locked the door or something… Oh no, please tell me no one else went in!’  
‘Well, I wish I could but… ’  
Renard’s heart sank  
Sig burst into laughter  
‘Oh you should see your face right now, priceless! ’ he kept laughing for a while, ‘I’m joking my friend, I’m the only one who saw or heard what you crazy people did.’  
Renard was equally relieved and annoyed by the wolf’s trick, but it was fair game so in the end he decided to laugh with him.  
Sig finally caught his breath  
‘I’ve waited all night for that but it was soooo worth it, I'll get some rest now and see you later. You two take care of yourselves’ he then approached his mouth to the fox’s ear ‘and there’s definitely a few lessons in “close combat” you’ll have to teach me, don’t let a brother hanging, pleeaaaase…’  
Renard laughed and received a pat on his shoulder by the wolf when he left.  
Sig headed to his cabin and stumbled upon Lucy exiting Renard’s quarters. He winked at her and placed his finger in front of his smiling lips. She didn’t understand why, but he didn’t let her enough time to ask and vanished in his own place.  
Shrugging her shoulders, she walked to the deck where she found her topless fox holding the rudder in the rising sun, his sharp eyes watching the horizon. She couldn’t feel happier and did not resist the urge to hug him from behind.  
He turned his attention to her with a smile on his face and kissed her lips.  
She then whispered  
‘I wish this moment would never end’  
‘Let's enjoy it and hope for it to last forever,’ replied Renard while caressing her cheek.


	10. Little secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the northern group enjoys a period of peace during their journey, Alita feels confident enough to adress some sensitive topics with Anthy.  
> The shy feline is not at ease with what she tells him

They woke up the next morning holding tight to each other.  
Everyone had rested and enjoyed this break in their otherwise difficult journey.

Anthy gathered them all again, today would still be pleasant and safe, but starting tomorrow they would have to be careful again. The northern part of the forest was ahead and danger awaited them.

But for now it was still time for careless walking through the woods. Talking, although not loud, was permitted and the wolves enjoyed this possibility as much as they could.  
The morale was high, the hard days in the mountain were long forgotten and the first part of the forest went well.  
Lita never left Anthy anymore, she always stood next to him but without pressuring the tiger, who enjoyed her company. He even took the opportunity to show her a few little hidden treasures in the local flora like the pine rose, a growing plant that climbed on pine trees and had remarkably colored flowers.  
‘They exist in their colorful state here, bright and shiny, they’re more common up in the north but their colors fade away because of the climate. It’s no big deal because their blue or white crystalline appearance would sometimes make them even glow in the dark, if only I could show you the marvels of the north…’  
She looked at him with a shining spark in her eyes  
‘Maybe we will, someday?’  
‘Heh, maybe. But first I have to bring all of you to safety.’  
He plucked one of the flowers, a bright red one which went well with the light color of her fur and tucked it in her hair next to her ear.  
She looked so happy by this attention and hugged him.

‘Anthy…’ She hesitated and lowered her voice ‘I know it’s your job to bring us to wolf land, but… I’ve got nowhere to go.’  
Anthy was surprised by what she just said, he had actually never thought of that  
‘You'll surely find new friends, make yourself at home, you’re still very young and will find a wolf family to take care of you.’  
‘I’m eight’  
‘Exactly, you’re still a ki… Wait, what?’  
She pressed her paw on his mouth before he could finish.  
‘Shhhht!’ She whispered in his ear, ‘no one else knows, as a kid I didn’t get enough food, I didn’t grow up like I should have, right? I look much younger, I know it and act like that on purpose.’  
The tiger went from surprise to disbelief then from anger at being deceived to resigned acceptance.  
Whispering angry, his eyes throwing daggers at her  
‘Why on this world didn’t you tell me?’  
‘I didn’t have time, I wanted to tell you last night but your story… Look I’m sorry, yes ? Don’t throw me away, you’re the only one I have.’ She took his hands and opened her eyes wide.  
‘No, no not the puppy eyes, no I… Argh stop it! I won’t throw you away, I promise, now stop that you’re too cute to be mad at.’  
A smile appeared on her face  
‘Phew, that’s a relief, d’you know you’re cute, too, when you’re angry.’  
‘Yeah well… WHAT?!’  
She pressed her paw again on his mouth  
‘Shhh!’  
He pulled her paw away  
‘ Ugh! I can’t believe it. Seriously? And … oh no! We bathed together, we slept together and I was just thinking you were an innocent kid!’  
She blushed and looked away in shame  
‘Yeeeeeah, about that, I might have a little teeny tiny crush on you so it was not innocent at all on my part, sorry.’  
Anthy just stood there in disbelief, his brain just gave up on trying to process this information, too much to handle at once.  
‘Hey, big one, you all right?’ She waved her paw in front of his eyes, Anthy came back to his senses and pulled her closer.  
‘You know I won’t see you the same again anymore, right?’  
‘Yes…’  
‘you’re nearly a grown adult’  
‘Yes….? ’  
‘And you expect to keep sleeping in my arms like this conversation never happened?’  
‘eeeeh… Yes?’ She smiled  
‘Oh boy, are you trouble! Not a word to anyone!’  
‘Keep yours and I'll keep mine.’  
Anthy shook his head and put his paw on his face: of all that could happen, this was not a good scenario. He didn’t need a groupie teenager/young adult on his tail but there she was, bold and confident.  
It was at this moment that he remembered what Renard had told him years before:  
‘Whatever you do, the biggest danger you’ll ever have to face is a loving woman… I hope you will stay out of trouble as long as you can but trust me: it always hits us when we least expect it.’  
Stupid fox was right, he wondered how his friend was doing on his side and if his group was out of trouble.

‘Lita, listen. I’ll bring everyone to the wolves’ territory, you’ll be free to do whatever you want. If, and only IF you behave and we still trust each other will I let you join me. You might like me now but who knows how it’ll be in a couple of weeks.’  
She raised her ears at the offer  
‘you got yourself a deal, big one’  
‘good, good, let’s get going then’

Although the pace was slow, their conversation slowed everyone further down and the rest of the wolves were wondering what was going on.  
To dismiss any inquiry, Anthy just told them he needed to be particularly careful for possible traps.

By the end of the day, they reached their last safe spot for the night, neither pond nor river this time, but several fallen trees on a roc, this made a perfect shelter for the night with some work to perform.  
The sun was still up and this enabled them to improve the spot with branches and rocks; by the end of the day, they had a really protected shelter under which a fire was lit, and they could sleep in peace.  
Next night wouldn’t be as comfortable and they all knew it, so they made the best of it.  
Their morale was high, leading to some of them starting chants and songs.  
The warm embrace of a cheering group revived old memories in Anthy’s mind: whenever he worked with other mercenaries he felt this warm feeling of being part of a family.  
This time was different, not just because they were his mission, but because he had a happy young wolf dancing and enjoying life next to him, she even pulled him up to dance once. He had never done that before, even during the wildest nights he had with Renard after a lucrative contract had been rewarded…  
And once everyone was tired and went to sleep, Lita would hold him tight as usual… Well, not exactly as usual: this time instead of just curling up against his fur she pushed her luck as far as to lick Anthy’s lips.  
The tiger was once again surprised by such an outrageous move, but didn’t say a word, bound to keep the secret. She just looked at him with a satisfied smile and it was at this moment, with that look in her eyes, that he saw her for who she really was: a young adult preying on him and not the small kid she always pretended to be.  
‘little one, you’re soooo much trouble; good night’ was the only thing he could whisper before trying to sleep while being mad at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the world of twokinds, Keidran have a lifespan of roughly 20 to 25 years, keidran children enter adulthood at around 8 years old after a major growth spurt that, in most cases, spans over 2 years prior.


	11. Good things never last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peaceful days for Lucy and Renard come to an abrupt end as a human Templar ship is in sight.

The sun was rising further in the sky; soon it would be noon, the sea was calm and Renard enjoyed this time of peace with Lucy.  
Not being too demonstrative on their fresh relationship, they still tangled their tails from time to time when no one was looking.  
After the first crazy part of their night, they spent another part cuddling against each other and talking. Renard took some time to explain the risks they were both taking by giving in on their mutual feelings; Lucy listened and agreed on some points. As long as they were not safe and sound in friendly territory, there would be a lurking risk. That they would lose each other. A risk both took into account but didn’t want to think about.

Sig emerged from his cabin, his night had been a bit shorter than usual but probably not as short as Renard’s and Lucy’s.  
‘What's up Renard, everything all right?’  
The fox nodded  
‘all clear and bright’  
Sig moved up to his friend, talking solely to him and out of hearing range of the others  
‘So much for keeping a distance, eh?’  
Renard shrugged his shoulders  
‘I failed, that’s all. I nearly died, she was there for me and brought me back to life, that girl’s overwhelmed me and I could not resist. Let’s just hope this won’t jinx our mission.’  
‘There's no reason for that, we’re not too far away from our goal and apart from the storm, we’ve been doing great, freedom awaits everyone soon.’  
‘I know I can’t shake that feeling off, though.’  
Just as he said this, both heard the lookout shouting from above  
‘Sails! Sails! Starboard!’  
Renard and Anthy looked at each other in disbelief then ran to starboard, grabbing a spyglass and pointing it at the spotted sails  
‘What? Who?’ asked Sig, still shocked.  
Renard cursed.  
‘Templar, they’re heading this way too. Damn we could try to evade them but they look faster than us, they’ll be here in less than two hours, three if we try to run which will make them angry.’  
Sig was holding his head, all went so well so far and now they were toast.  
‘What are we going to do? Fighting is out of options, they’re tougher than us.’  
‘I have a plan, gather everyone, NOW!’

Sig ran as fast as he could to gather every single wolf on the ship out of potential eyesight of the incoming Templar ship.

‘We don’t have much time, they’ll be upon us soon and we’ll have to deceive them. Grab all the last human shaping illusion crystals we’ve got, we’ll have to use their power on only a few of us. All others, I know you won’t like it but if we want to stand a chance against this ship, there’s no other way: grab chains and collars and put them on, don’t lock them, we’ll try to pass as slave merchants.’  
The dark looks he got from the wolves said it all…  
But Lucy raised her voice  
‘He's right, we have no chance against a Templar ship unless we trap them, only few of you will be on deck and the others stowed below.’  
‘Yes, from afar we’ll look like humans with a slave crew, let’s just hope they don’t board us…’ added Sig. ‘I’m sorry brother and sisters, it’s the only way, please do so and hurry.’

Renard raised his hand before adding  
‘And if they do board us…’  
He waved everyone to come closer.

Within thirty minutes they were all set, the Templar ship was closing in and was now probably in viewing range with their spyglass to identify what was on this curious ship.  
All they could see was two humans talking on deck and a few chained Keidran on ship handling duty.  
‘Chained wolves on board? That is curious, we should get closer and inquire as to their destination.’  
‘Sir?’  
‘Set course for interception, I want to make sure that is no dirty pirate trick.’  
‘Aye, aye, captain!’

Renard and Sig, both in human forms stood calmly, Renard waving signs to the Templar ship once it was close enough.  
The Templar captain took his megaphone to address the Keidran vessel

‘Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Harp of the Destructor, Templar navy. Identify yourself and your destination’  
Renard, not having such a device but a powerful voice replied  
‘This is Captain Hickson of the Mary Rose, private vessel, USTA. How may we help the Templar navy?’  
‘Captain Hickson, what is your destination and reason for it?’  
‘Captain Harp, Wreathwood Harbor, slave trade, obviously’  
There was a pause.

‘Captain Hickson, on behalf of the Templar authority, we shall inspect your ship.’  
Without showing any of it, Renard cursed in his mind  
‘Captain Harp, be warned, we have a few sick Keidran below decks, the disease might be contagious, I would not advise your crew members to come on board.’  
‘I appreciate your concern, Captain Hickson, but I’m the one deciding here, lower your sails and prepare to be boarded.’

The worst-case scenario was playing in front of his eyes, despite his efforts the Templar was stubborn. Renard gave orders to stop the ship and prepare for boarding.

The whole wolf crew heard it all and knew what would happen next.

To Renard’s surprise and pleasure, Captain Harp himself joined his men for the inspection and came on board, he thought to himself that the Templar must’ve grown too strong and too proud to act with caution.  
More than a dozen armed soldiers were on deck but unlike the foot troops, the sailors of the navy had no armor.  
Captain Harp was a smaller human, Renard stood tall in front of him to welcome the Templar on board.

‘Captain Harp, welcome onboard the Mary Rose, be aware that the USTA will not be held responsible if you or your crewmen contract whatever disease my load is harboring.’  
‘I know the procedure, Captain Hickson’ he waved with his hand and eight men started searching through the ship. The wolves acted calm and no one could notice the looks they gave one another.

‘This is an awful lot of wolves you’re shipping, Captain Hickson, where did you buy them?’

‘Vipen Shipyard, they were captives in fox land.’  
‘Foxes? I never thought these weaklings could capture wolves, it’s usually the other way around,’ he laughed wholeheartedly.  
Renard Joined Him  
‘Hehehe, well that’s what they told. I didn’t care how the coastal foxes could have performed this feat but let’s ask one of the slaves.’ He turned to the closest fake slave, one that did speak human quite well ‘say, Keidran, how did the foxes get you?’  
The wolf looked at Renard, then at Captain Harp before speaking, ‘I can’t speak for the others, but I’ve been trapped by dogs and they sold me to the foxes.’  
Captain Harp laughed again  
‘Great news, if those fleabags fight each other, this war will be easier than we could think.’ He stopped and looked Renard straight in the eyes.  
‘But why are you so far off course?’  
‘We took no risk, with so many wolves on board and sailed east into the ocean instead of following the coast, longer but safer. At least that’s what we thought… Look at these’ Renard showed the claw marks on deck which were made when they crossed the storm. ‘We were caught in a storm, I’ve lost two valuable slaves and we were dragged farther than expected.’  
Captain Harp examined the marks, wolves indeed.  
‘It must’ve been a tough storm Captain Hickson.’  
‘It was, Captain’  
‘Too bad we were cruising in this area five days ago and did not encounter it.’  
Captain Harp looked at Renard with a look of satisfaction to have tricked his opponent.

Renard’s blood froze; Sig overheard the conversation and howled while striking down the first guard with his concealed sword. In unison all others jumped the closest humans, catching them by surprise.  
Meanwhile on the other side of the Templar ship, Lucy and a group of wolves finished climbing on the enemy deck, they had snuck out of their ship while the Templar boarded and swum undetected to reach their back.

Renard dispelled the shapeshifting spell and Captain Harp had to face a huge, very angry and armed fox.  
‘This is how foxes do it!’ yelled Renard at the Captain with his first swing.

The falsely chained wolves under deck quickly overwhelmed the humans next to them, the Mary Rose’s deck was a disorganized battlefield with a furious Sig facing two guards, every other wolf had to make good use of Renard’s training to stay alive and Renard was engaged in a fierce duel with Harp, the Templar Captain proved to be a worthy opponent.  
Meanwhile, reinforcements tried to come from the Templar ship but they were cut off by Lucy’s group which caught them in the back and completely off guard.  
In a matter of seconds, war was waging on both ships and Renard knew he had to end it quickly to go help Lucy who would be outnumbered once the initial surprise faded away. Harp was good, but Renard was not just good. A mercenary had to either learn fast or die quickly and the fox was in the business for years.  
After a parry he took the opening to kick the captain in the gut, throwing him back a few meters under the unexpected impact but instead of jumping at him, Renard took advantage of the very short time at hand to strike at one of the two guards facing Sig; the poor man didn’t see it coming and it freed Sig to face only one more man.  
Renard barely had the time to turn his attention back to Harp that he had to dodge his blade; the sword went close to his nose and even cut a whisker. The man was fast and accurate.  
Renard then pulled one last trick: he replicated twice the same move, waiting for Harp to pick it up and try to use it as an opening. Harp took the bait – and Renard’s blade.  
Not wasting a second, Renard jumped on the boarding plank that was still in place, ran over it and with one leap he reached the Templar deck.  
Things weren’t looking as good for Lucy and her team: the Templar were well trained and did not panic once they realized they had been trapped. They fought back and nearly cornered the intruders.  
But they didn’t expect a fast fox to come to the rescue.  
With one strike he brought two down, thinning the numbers.  
Still, they were many and three turned against him; he kept them at bay, parrying, dodging, moving and jumping to try to isolate each of them just enough to take them on one by one.

Lucy was struggling against her opponents but held her position; her team had suffered at least one wounded and things were getting tricky even if her fox was fighting like a demon just a few meters away.

Then a blood-covered Sig and some other wolves showed up, crossing the gap through the plank.  
The balance had tipped in their favor, the remaining Templar laid down their weapons and surrendered. The battle was won.

Renard ran to an exhausted Lucy and held her tight in his arms while kissing her with passion, relieved she was still alive and unharmed, he carried her to the Mary Rose using the plank.  
There he met Captain Harp who had crawled against the ship’s rail and squatted next to the dying Templar officer.  
‘You're worse than I thought, intolerable,’ said Harp.  
‘I’m sorry Captain, I tried my best to avoid the conflict.’  
‘I know, I knew a slave trader named Hickson once, thought you were one of his relatives.’  
Renard smiled bitterly.  
‘Apologies Captain, I made sure the Hickson family would never ever partake in slave trade again. Or in anything else for the matter.’  
Harp coughed and struggled against the pain before looking him in the eyes.  
‘So the demon fox they talked about does exist after all…’  
The Templar had spoken his last words; his body could not hold his life any longer.  
Renard stood up. Lucy looked at him with shock and awe and when he saw her face, the fire burning in his eyes ran out. An expression of sadness and lassitude replacing the anger.

The next hour was spent looting the Templar ship to find their supplies, specifically the medical ones and forcing the Templar healer to attend to everyone’s wounds. Wolves first.  
By the end of the day, two wolves had succumbed in the battle, six more were injured and would require assistance in order to recover.  
The Templar had lost fourteen men, including captain Harp. Twelve others were incapacitated/wounded, eight were captives.

Renard gathered Sig, Lucy and the wolf elders to discuss their next decisions: what to do with the wounded and prisoners?  
The arguments between the wolves were heated, they could not embark so many captives on the Mary Rose, not enough room, and having too many humans on board would be dangerous.  
They finally agreed on Renard’s proposition: scuttle the Mary Rose and transfer everything on the Templar ship. Keeping the prisoners locked below deck, Templar ships were equipped to hold prisoners. This would still require a thorough check of each and single one of them to avoid someone sneaking a key or tools to free themselves, and a constant watch from two wolves.  
But the ship was stronger, bigger and, most importantly, faster than the small Mary Rose.

They all performed as instructed and made sure no tricks could be played by the Templar captives by stripping them down to the minimal.  
Even the healer, who objected vehemently until Renard took the matter in his own hands. Literally. He took the man by the collar, pulled him up and held him overboard until the human realized he had no say. All while explaining to him that he was precious for the survival of his comrades since the wolves knew nothing about healing humans, throwing this pesky human in the ocean would lead to other losses. The Templar, still on deck, raised their voices for the healer to become reasonable … and it worked.

By the end of the day, after organizing proper funerals for all the fallen, the Keidran refugees were now cruising at full speed with a captured Templar vessel towards their objective.

Renard, after making sure the prisoners would be treated well and very well guarded, finally got to rest in his new, better and more comfortable cabin. Lucy was already waiting for him.  
The day had been very stressful and they were happy to have each other to hold on to after this storm and they both lay down in their new bed, cuddling and kissing.

Lucy finally asked  
‘Is it always like this around you?’  
Renard was intrigued  
‘What do you mean?’  
‘Danger. Risk. Death.’  
‘It's part of my life. More often than I would like. Maybe someday I'll get out of this storm and will admire the rainbow that comes after, peace, finally. Or maybe not. I don’t know.’ He paused, looked her in the eyes. ‘But what do I need a rainbow for when I have you?’  
She smiled but tears appeared in her eyes, Renard worried immediately  
‘What's wrong?’  
‘Nothing … no one’s ever said such things to me before, that’s all.’ She smiled again.  
He took her paw  
‘I’ll do my best for us to find peace, even if it’s still a long way and we won’t find it in wolf land…’ He then pulled her as close as he could against his fur before whispering in her ear.  
‘I'll be yours if you’ll be mine, tell me if it is that what you want, I want to be on your side and have you on mine. Always.’  
She got overwhelmed by her emotions and could only nod gently in approval before hugging him with all her body.


	12. Bigger secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the initial shocking revelation of Alita's real age, Anthy is bound to have a conversation with the girl. Things get awkward quickly but they do their best to sort it out, especially once Lita tells her own story.

Anthy just could not sleep. Whatever he tried, he could not bring himself over being mad at Alita.  
She looked like a kid but is a young adult. And she was shamelessly sleeping against him.  
What he thought to be clumsy lack of knowledge about personal space all this time was just well orchestrated and intentional behavior. And it drove him mad.  
First because she was lying to everyone. Granted, she came clear to him which was a mark of trust.  
But, most annoying to him, he had now closely slept with a shameless young female adult for several nights in a row and never had a clue.

No training, no hard work and no studying ever helped him in any way when it came to the subject of ‘girls’. Anthy just had to admit to himself he simply had no clue how to handle this situation and he worried this could become a problem during this mission.  
The night at the pond reminded him of his first kiss ever. With Nova. They were young, laughing, playing truth or dare when this little rat of a younger cousin Levy dared him to kiss Nova.  
Things were awkward and weird and even a bit yucky. Nova and Anthy, after briefly drowning Levy for mocking them, agreed to never bring it up. Ever. They respected and esteemed each other but their feelings never changed throughout the years.  
This was different; he liked Lita for being who she was, or for whom he thought she was…  
Now everything had changed and he had to deal with something he had never dealt with before.  
Lita noticed the tiger’s sleeplessness; at some point she decided to interfere and whispered to him.  
‘What's wrong, big one?’  
He didn’t expect her to be awake  
‘I … Uh … well…’  
She proceeded to lean over him, pushing herself over his body with her arms on each side of his chest, her hair was falling on the side of her head and on Anthy’s throat.  
‘Why are you so nervous? Is it… Is it because of me?’  
Anthy Looked at Her  
‘I … yes. Kinda. I don’t know. I don’t know you and I don’t know what you’re doing.’  
Lita’s expression was a mix of sadness and annoyance  
‘Look, big tiger, if you don’t want me I can go, you wouldn’t be the first anyway…’  
She then pushed herself away from him  
Anthy caught her before she could try to really move away.  
‘Little one, it’s not that easy. Please stay and… Listen to me. I like you. I like little Lita I’ve gotten fond of but I don’t really know Alita. I don’t know you. And to be fair…’ he closed his eyes and laid his ears back ‘I don’t know how to handle anything when it comes to girls.’  
Lita stood there in silence for a minute.  
‘Wait, what do you mean…?’  
‘I mean that even if I had alcohol induced affairs with women when celebrating with Renard and other fellow mercenaries, I’ve never had a girlfriend. Lita… I’m clueless’  
‘Woah, woah wait, what? Double what? What the … what?’  
‘eerr ?’ Anthy was thrown off by Lita’s reaction.  
‘Right, Mr. Handsome snow-tigerpard, let’s clear a few things: first I never thought you’d be the shy and clueless type, but that explains a lot, my bad… Second,’ she held her breath, ‘what do you mean by “girlfriend”?’  
Anthy’s eyes grew wide in confusion.  
‘Well, you and I…?’ Lita placed her paw on his mouth.  
‘Anthy, I never planned for us to be together, you’re a strong cold efficient warrior and I’m just a poor childish looking outcast.’ She blushed and looked away. ‘Yes, I shamelessly take advantage of it as long as it can last, but we’re not together.’  
‘We're not?’ Anthy’s confusion was complete.  
‘Wait, you really thought we were? Like … really?’  
‘Well…’  
Lita started to be confused too and kept blushing  
‘You mean, you were all right with us being together?’  
‘I … guess so? Like I said, it’s all brand new to me.’  
‘Oh I can’t believe this’ Lita shook her head.  
‘What now?’ Anthy frowned because things were still not clearing up.  
‘Big one, you have no idea how many times I’ve been rejected because I looked too young.’  
Anthy took a moment to think about it: for sure she still looked very young and it would be very wrong for an adult to start a relationship with a youngling.  
‘I … Can only imagine, yes’  
‘But you still considered us to be together?’  
‘Y-es? I thought it would not be simple but yes, why?’  
Lita smiled with tears in her eyes  
‘you big innocent and naive tiger’  
‘What now?!’  
‘You're the first to genuinely think we could be together.’  
‘Oh. Ow. Wow.’ Anthy’s mind started connecting the pieces together, ‘So what do we do now?’  
‘What do you want to do, big one?’  
Anthy hesitated…

‘Tell me about yourself, I want to know you.’

Lita was surprised by this answer and her discomfort had shown on her face  
‘Alita, I want the true story, please.’  
She thought about it  
‘Fair enough Anthy, like I said I’m eight, probably even closer to nine, and not 5 to 6. I’ve never been free until the last days with you. Me… Me and my “bigger sister” Tina were both born in captivity and never knew our parents. Tina was three years older than me and had to take care of me as soon as I joined her home. Our master was an idiot human farmer, his wife tried to take care of us the best she could so we would grow strong and be sold a better price but her husband had the bad habit of drinking too much and gambling. As long as his wife was fit, we could sort of afford his stupid losses. I was around five when one day, Mistress became sick and things went down, quickly.’ She stopped, lost in her memories for a second.  
‘Master couldn’t care less, Tina was doing her best to take care of the farm, of Mistress and of me while Master drowned his troubles in alcohol. His gambling habit was quiet for a while but his work on the farm was, at best, useless. Our production went low, and since I was the last on the food chain…’ her voice went quiet for a short time. ‘Tina did her best, we just didn’t have enough for all of us … and after two years of battling, Mistress was no more. She had lost to her sickness. Master went mad, he blamed his bad luck on us and stormed off. He only came back several hours later, completely drunken, carried by two men because he could barely stand. He had gambled way too much and lost it all, to pay off his debt he gave me up and the two men were here to take me. Tina tried to stop them, but she got punished by Master. I got carried away, weak and in tears while Tina was being beaten down by this drunken bastard. I was brought in another farm further away, food was scarce and the conditions were not much better. It lasted nearly a year. But I was too small and weak from the lack of food earlier, they sold me to a family in Edinmire. Three days before being picked up, we were transporting goods to town and went past my older farm. I tried to see Tina and managed to sneak away from the carriage and into the farm. What I saw…’ She stopped. Anthy was looking straight in her eyes with that look of pure concern. He didn’t want to know more because he realized how hard it was for her to bring this story up: her body was shaking, her voice trembling and the tears were running up to her eyes, but she continued, ‘Anthy, you deserve to know, you told me your story and trust me. Hear mine until the end.’ The tiger held her tight.  
‘Master… He had bound her, he was… He was abusing her. By the looks of it, the smell and the dirt of the place this must’ve been going on for long, far too long. Poor Tina, she had no light in her eyes anymore, her ankles and wrists were injured by the ropes he had used. I was so shocked I must’ve run something over. Master heard me and turned around to discover me, I was terrified. Holding his pants with his left hand and his belt in the right, I remember him saying “Oh, you’re back, just in time for some fun I see” he looked disgusting and horrible and before I could try to run away he hit me with his belt, shouting I’d have run away and deserved punishment. It hurt, I screamed. This must’ve woken Tina up, I thought. She tore the bounds holding her and jumped on Master’s back, she bit his throat and he screamed in terror while her teeth opened a large wound. It was horrible, blood everywhere, the whole room was a horrible mess. Master ended his screams in a pathetic gurgle. Tina stood like a predator close to me. I was terrified. She was baring her teeth, no light came from her eyes, but she must’ve picked my scent. She calmed down just a little bit, whined … and ran away. I didn’t have time to say something to her. I was shocked so I ran the other way, covered in blood, back to the cart that was way ahead. Once I got there, I did my best to hide the stains of fresh blood, I even jumped into the nearby river to get it off my fur … Three days later I was picked up to go to Edinmire. You know the rest’  
Lita was crying.  
‘You're the only one who’s ever heard this story, I don’t know what happened to my “big sis” after that, I wish I could've talked to her, said something, I wish I could’ve held her and thanked her for standing up for me… But she wasn’t herself anymore. She had become a beast.’  
Anthy held her tight in his arms, tight like never before.  
She kept sobbing  
‘And the Ferals … your own story even! I’m scared Anthy. I’m lost, alone and scared.’  
Anthy held her jaw up with his paw so she would look at him through the tears.  
She had never seen the snow Tiger look at anything or anyone with such compassion in his eyes.  
‘You're neither lost nor alone Alita… You got me in your life now. And I got you. I promise I'll never let anyone harm you in any way.’

She cried even more, holding tight to his pristine fur.  
Anthy drew his blanket over her, now that she was lying nearly completely on his body. He kept her head in his arms and continuously kissed her gently on the forehead until she finally fell asleep, exhausted.


	13. Gut feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their new vessel was now perfect for their journey, it only came with one drawback : human prisoners.  
> Quickly Renard can't shake the feeling the humans are up to something.

With the new ship, they were making better progress and had more room for everyone.  
The humans were bitter that ‘their’ vessel was now in enemy hands, but there was nothing they could do against it.  
Renard checked daily on them, even at night. He would watch them from the distance, in silence and unbeknownst to them.  
Like a cat observing its unsuspecting prey, as if he were expecting something.

They were calm, didn’t try anything funny to free themselves and take advantage of the night to gain back control of the ship.  
This, to Renard, was highly suspicious.  
If he had been in their position, he’d already thought of several plans, timed the guard rotation and acted when it would be most favorable.  
The fox had insisted on purpose that the guard changes be at well-established shifts so the humans could predict them.  
Still they hadn’t tried anything.

Sig was convinced that the humans would stay calm since they had been defeated, the fact that they were still well treated should make them reasonable. Renard’s experience told him otherwise: the sheer willpower of some people could accomplish the impossible, he’d witnessed it more than once.

Lucy didn’t know how to handle this, understanding that an expert in unexpected strikes like Renard had his reasons to believe they were facing an invisible threat; still, she wished her fox had his mind freed of these worries.

Renard, in the meantime, remained as silent as possible regarding his spying activity, not even the guards knew he was there monitoring the humans.  
And this night, it happened.  
Renard felt the hair on his back rise: magic was filling the air.  
They had meditated and rested for two days to gather enough energy, and they were now transferring it to their new leader. The one Renard had tried to identify all this time.  
Now he was easy to spot, clear and bright, front row, second to the right. The fox had to act quickly before he had gathered enough power to become dangerous.

Three big steps and a leap: Renard was so fast, coming out of nowhere, that the human leader had no chance to try to evade the attack. The sheer weight of the fox made for a formidable impact, blowing the air off the Templar’s lungs and before anyone could react, Renard’s blade was already on the barely conscious man’s throat.  
Renard held his head up, pulling him by the hair. All energy transfer was interrupted and by the looks of the prisoners, the backlash of lost energy wasn’t a pleasant experience.  
Renard pressed his blade against the human’s skin, a little bit of blood appeared.

‘Now, we had a deal, hadn’t we? We saved your wounded and treated you well. And you STILL come up with that? Tell me, is there a good reason why I should not kill this man? Is there a good reason I should not kill you ALL RIGHT NOW?’  
The noise made by Renard attracted the guards’ attention and they came up in an instant, only to witness a strange scene.  
Renard was kneeled next to a human seemingly in bad shape, his blade leaving a cut on the human’s throat, while the other prisoners were focused on the fox and were obviously nervous.

‘So what was your plan? Charge your best man up so he could break free, then he would break your chains so you’d slice our throats in the night?’  
The humans and the wolves watched in shock.  
‘What's your name? WHAT IS YOUR NAME?’ Renard shouted at his victim.  
‘T… Tennant’  
‘So tell me, Tennant, am I right when I think you tried to reclaim the ship?’  
More wolves converged below deck, including Sig and Lucy  
Tennant started smiling, even laughing a bit  
‘You’re all dead, fleabags’  
‘You know, Tennant, humans and especially fanatic Templars like you tend to be convinced they’re better than anyone else. So intelligent. So full of yourselves. By the time we’re chatting I bet there are two, maybe three of your ships navigating on an interception course thanks to the intel you and your buddies here have transmitted magically all this time. You’re convinced that they’ll catch us in the morning and that’s why you’ve taken your chance tonight, you wanted to be promoted … outstanding move “Captain Tennant” you’ve reclaimed the ship and killed the enemy.’  
The look on Tennant’s face changed slightly. Renard felt the tension in his muscles.  
‘You know, Mister Tennant, this war is not mine, I don’t care about it. What I do care about is the safety of this crew… And the slight tension in your muscles just told me I guessed right. Thank you for your cooperation, MISTER Tennant.’  
Before Tennant could shout his frustration and curse, Renard’s blade went in.  
Deadly calm while holding Tennant’s head and shaking body, Renard looked every single man in the eyes, fire was burning in his own and he made sure they could see it.  
He looked up at the other wolves and without saying a word they all understood what had to be done.  
Sig and Lucy struck first.  
After just a few minutes filled with horrified screams, everything was deadly silent. No human was still alive on this ship, not even the healer.

‘To all crew, shut out all lights on the ship. Do it now! Sig? Take the rudder and all the wolves you need to maneuver: we must change our course immediately to the southwest in favor of the night. We MUST keep our lights out to avoid detection. You two, get some help to throw these idiots overboard.’  
Without questioning they all rushed to their new tasks, the ship was boiling with activity in the dark night. Sig was already running for the helm; Lucy stood there for a while and looked at a sitting Renard covered in fresh blood.

‘You were right.’  
He didn’t say anything  
‘How did you know that?’  
He looked up at her, reached for her hand.  
‘of all humans I’ve had the “luck” to encounter, Templar have by far proven to be the most treacherous. They are power hungry and will stop at nothing to reach their goals. They’re fanaticized and will take any risks they deem necessary. This … and the fact that I had the opportunity to learn a LOT about their tactics through various contacts. All this made it easier for me. They must’ve sent some kind of magical signal when they surrendered. They never surrender if they have no chance of having reinforcements or be saved shortly after. Since the rise of Grand Templar Trace, they have reached such a level of blind hate that you’ll never, mark my words, ne-ver be able to negotiate anything with them. Either they kill you or you kill them. Trust me… I’ve tried. I hoped these were different but I was wrong.’

She looked at him and scratched his head behind his ear; she knew he liked that.

‘It’s horrible when you come to think about it.’  
‘Lucy’ he took her paw and kissed her on the pad ‘it’s not horrible… It is war.’


	14. Primal fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthy and Lita try to adjust to each other while leading their group through the unpleasant northern part of Brandon Woods.  
> The further they go, the harder their journey becomes. Not just physical: their morale takes a blow as they keep moving and the night turns out to be challenging to their nerves.

Lita did not let Anthy loose for the whole night.  
The Snow Tiger still managed to get some sleep out of it, things had gotten clearer again in his mind and he could now focus on getting everyone through the dangerous zone.

They had taken the habit to stand guard when they first entered the forest and things had gotten serious again so it wasn’t hard for them to keep watch. Potential traps were no threat anymore so they were not forced to walk in a line, which they appreciated.  
Instead they chose to walk as a pack: with the weakest in the middle to protect them from any attack.  
As usual, Anthy was at the front, Lita right behind him. Several wolves tried to convince her to join the others in the middle where it would be safe for a child but she refused like the stubborn kid she was supposed to be. She even pushed the comedy as far as to grab and hold Anthy’s tail, much to the tiger’s discomfort but he showed no sign of it.  
The tail was soft, fluffy and… Twitchy. Anthy could not control all the signs his body gave off by this unsettling contact of a private part.  
After a while, once the wolves had given up on trying to reason Lita, Anthy moved his hand as a sign for her to close in further.  
He leaned slightly to reach her ear and whispered  
‘Could you please stop?’  
‘Stop what?’  
His tail whipped, trying to free itself from her grasp but her grip was strong  
‘That… It’s … sensitive. The intimate kind of sensitive!’ Anthy was flustered and blushing.  
Lita first looked at him, confused, then looked at the tail, then him again… And while realizing what she was doing her ears dropped and her face turned completely red.  
‘Yipes!’ She immediately let go ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry, by all gods! sorry!’ She tried to apologize.  
Anthy tried to keep his best poker face he could, but it was obvious that such intimate contact was really inappropriate.  
‘I’m sorryyyyyyyy, I didn’t know! Our tails are probably less sensitive, I never thought to… Oh my, what have I done? Sorry’  
She clung at him trying her best to make up for her action, Anthy had a hard time to even speak.  
‘Lita… You’re not helping!’  
The clumsy young wolf held him too tight for him to cool down after the treatment she had inflicted to his tail, which didn’t help at all. The situation was so awkward and they were both so ashamed that the others started noticing something was wrong.  
‘Is everything alright?’ they heard.  
‘Huh? What? Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, nothing to worry about, it’s just Lita, she…’  
‘Bit his tail, I bit his tail by accident, I thought I was tripping I’m…’  
‘Fine, everyone’s fine, we keep moving, stay alert’ Finished Anthy while looking shocked at Lita for such an excuse, he was also surprised no one picked that up. He whispered again to her ear:  
‘Are you crazy? Do you even know what it means to bite someone’s tail for adult snow leopards?’ he placed his palm on his face and shook his head.  
‘Noooooo, what did I do noooow?’  
Anthy sighed.  
‘Let’s just say that it is VERY inappropriate for adult snow leopards to bite another’s tail in public, I’m lucky it didn’t seem to bother the wolves.’  
Lita turned red again but kept silent.  
Anthy could only shake his head, pat her shoulder and whisper with a smile: ‘Girl, I knew you were trouble, but not that kind of trouble.’  
This gave Lita some confidence back.  
‘I’m sorry big one, I didn’t mean to…’  
‘I know, I know.’ Anthy had managed to calm down, he drank a sip of water from his bota bag to cool further down.  
‘But once we’re out of this, I definitely will!’  
Anthy spat his water out and coughed out of surprise.  
Lita just stood there, smiling while Anthy got his breath back.  
He looked again at her, but couldn’t stay mad. What did he expect when giving this kind of information to her?  
He could only mumble: ‘How can someone so small fit so much trouble inside?’  
Lita just kept smiling and swiping her tail.

The subject matter being closed, for now, they had to concentrate again on the surroundings.  
The forest was darker, thicker and even the birds were not as frequent.  
The group kept moving with caution and in silence at a good pace even if the terrain had become harder to cross.  
Mosses, ferns and thorns had become common, the tall ferns blocked the view or could provide excellent cover for an ambush, the mosses were filled with cold water and would cancel any attempt at moving silently and the thorns formed nearly impenetrable walls.  
The wolves had to stick close to each other and Anthy didn’t like the fact that they could be all trapped at once.  
He wasn’t the only one uncomfortable, but acting like one, the wolves with him just gritted their teeth and pulled through.

The ground was getting wetter, they were entering one of the multiple boggy areas of the northern forest, the water was cold but at least ferns and thorns had disappeared.  
Anthy picked up a scent, as did several wolves. A foul smell was in the air and it did not come from the rotten material composing the bog. Lita had it also in her nose but could not identify what it could be. Anthy, on the other hand, knew that smell, he ordered the group to a halt and picked two wolves to come with him. Lita insisted on coming along. He first refused without hesitating but once he saw the cold furious look in her eyes he understood he needed to explain first, in private.

‘Listen Lita, if it is what I think it is, it won’t be a pleasing sight and might even be an ambush, I don’t want you to get caught or worse.’  
She was not convinced  
‘Seriously, little one, it’s not safe’  
‘I told you I want to be with you, right?’  
‘Yes but…’  
‘No arguing, I know what your job is, I know I want to do the same by your side, you either completely trust me right now and bring me with you or…’  
‘Or…?’  
She realised she had no solid argument to oppose.  
‘Or … or I don’t know. Anthy, don’t leave me behind, I’ve got to start learning someday if I want to be able to keep up with you, I don’t want to lose you.’  
This argument made more sense to the tiger.  
‘Promise you’ll do as I say?’  
‘Promise’.  
‘Promise you won’t freak out and stay close to me?’  
‘Promise.’  
‘Good.’

The other wolves were not convinced about her being with them but Anthy cut the conversation short  
‘She’d try sneaking up on us anyway, because none of you could keep her here; let’s at least know where she is. And I’ll keep an eye on her.’

Still not convinced but left with no choice, all three moved cautiously away from the group, straight to where the scent came from.  
After a while, the stench was becoming more aggressive; they knew they were very close but still didn’t know what to expect.

And that’s where they found him.  
He was a Keidran, a wolf, lying on the ground with three arrows in his back. He was half rotten and must have been there for weeks already. Even if the body was in an advanced state of decay, Anthy clearly distinguished several other severe wounds the poor guy suffered and proceeded with describing them. Old healed traces of cuffs and chains could be seen on his ankles and wrists, while his back was covered with long marks. Whip lashes.  
Lucy was mortified, the other wolves were struggling to keep control of the content in their stomachs.  
‘Poor guy lost his mind, found a new life here but must’ve been driven back south by hunger, there he was shot. Panic and primal instincts allowed him to reach this point … but not further.’  
He looked at Lucy who had overcome her first impression and was now completely numb  
‘Is everyone all right ? There’s nothing we can do here, let’s head back to the others.’  
All agreed, and with sadness filling their hearts they hurried to reach the rest of the pack.  
Once all back together, they resumed their wet progression to the north.  
After the few explanations given by the two wolves who had found the corpse, everyone was now more than quiet. It was as if they were mourning a friend or family member. Anthy was not comfortable with that, but to his luck, Lucy was not acting the same way as the others, she was silent but didn’t look utterly depressed.  
After several more hours, they finally reached solid ground again, Anthy was relieved because they could never have set a camp for the night in the marshes and the sun was setting.  
Unlike in other hostile territories, Anthy encouraged the lighting of fires.  
Ferals were savage beasts that acted on instinct and fire instilled fear.  
But the area was so drenched in water that they struggled to find enough dry wood to ignite more than one fire. Anthy insisted on not spreading too far, especially while the shadows were getting longer.  
They all gathered next to their sole fire to try drying their clothes, the night would be cold and uncomfortable. Little did they know that it would also be restless.

Many wolves were complaining about the poor condition in which they ended up; most blamed the stupid humans of Edinmire, some recognized that the war had been initiated by the wolves; many were filled with regret of their lost life. But all agreed that their freedom was most important and nothing but death would stop them from being free.  
Anthy did not partake in these discussions, he kept an eye out along with three other watchmen.  
This time they were not trying to hide, they were effectively trying to stand tall and strong to keep danger at bay.  
Anthy knew they were observed: in the past two hours he had spotted three different shadows in the distance. He kept this information to himself to avoid panic. But his weapons were always right at hand.  
He even gave his hunting knife to Lita, just in case.  
She looked at him confused, why would she need that?  
Rather than explaining with words, he picked her up and went to the edge of their defensive perimeter.  
Being held up higher, Lita could see further. The tiger kept whispering to her all the while he held her up.  
‘See the crooked tree in the distance? The one with the broken branch falling to the ground?’  
‘Yes’.  
‘Look at its left side, there’s a darker patch on the ground, do you see it?’  
‘Yes.’  
‘it wasn’t there earlier’  
Lita’s heart froze  
‘Wh… What do you mean?’  
‘I mean we’re being observed from the distance.’  
She looked at him in shock then back again at the spot  
‘What should we do?’  
‘Nothing little one, going out there is dangerous, we wouldn’t just risk getting lost or killed, we’d also spread our forces to become easy prey for them to pick out one by one. Our strength is to stick together and never lower our guard.’  
Lita understood. But overcoming her primal fear would take some time.  
Anthy knew that. ‘I’m sorry little one, but you wanted and needed to know, no other guard has noticed yet, please don’t tell the others.’  
She nodded in silence, holding tightly on the knife.

Anthy put her back down on the ground  
‘Now please stick with the rest, I’m just two footsteps away anyway, I won’t let you out of my guard.’  
She hugged him tight and joined the others, keeping the knife as close as possible.

Once most settled down for the night, Anthy talked to every single guard and explained to each of them what was really lurking in the dark around them. None of them was happy with the news, but the fact they were all together helped them overcome their fright.  
They tightened even further their vigilance and would not find rest for the whole night, even after being replaced by others which also had to be informed.  
After the second guard shift, it happened.  
A plaintiff howl woke everyone.  
Anthy jumped up, his weapons ready, the guards were unsure and the rest of the group confused. Another howl came from the dark; now everyone was awake and could hear it.  
Wolves get this urge sometimes to howl at the moon, or when they accomplish extraordinary feats. But this howl was way more savage, primitive and frightening.  
Anthy lowered his guard since it came from the distance but unlike the rest of the group he was only merely affected.  
Indeed, all wolves share this connection of howling. But what they heard was unsettling at best, horrifying at most. It echoed their deep buried beast. The uncontrolled, feral wolf that acts on instinct. The enduring hunter that will track their prey for days. And because of hearing that, in the depths of their souls, they felt for the first time in their life like prey. This disturbing experience hit on their nerves. Badly. During the night, some were gathering and convincing themselves that they should end this by killing the lone howler. Anthy had to interfere nearly physically to prevent them from doing so.  
All wolves were nervous and it had proven an uneasy task to abate their primal instincts. Anthy struggled but it was necessary: spreading out meant everyone’s death and he would not allow that.  
The sun rose red in the morning, no wolf had really slept, all were relieved that the howl stopped but since none could really sleep, they were all grumpy, at best.  
Progression this day would automatically be impaired and the bad temper would compromise the group. Anthy had to find a solution: another night like this and things could take a very bad turn…


	15. Through the dark night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the slaughter of their prisoners and the magic link broken, the crew knew they were about to step straight into a deadly trap.  
> Everyone on board is nervous at the idea of getting caught again. Most remain quiet, their eyes trying to spot any sign of enemy activity, but Lucy has her own way to cope with excessive stress...

Renard and Lucy stood there in the dark.  
All wolves were on deck, the lights were out and luck was with them: clouds covered the light of the moon.  
In silence they prepared the bodies and added weights to them so they would sink quickly once thrown overboard. Sig did not want a trail of floating corpses to give away their course. In this direction the wind was not favorable, but every little progress they made sent them further away from the trap that was laid for them. By the time the Templar navy found out they had been deceived and lost contact with their informants, the wolf crew would be long gone. Renard hoped it would be far enough, he could not do better to increase their chances anyway.

Sig approached.  
‘Renard, what do you think our chances are to lose them?’  
The fox stood there in silence for a short moment before raising his voice.  
‘Considering we managed to dim the lights and change our course right after the link was cut, and considering that it is pitch dark thanks to the thick clouds over our heads, chances are excellent. But, considering we’ve changed our position from the incoming winds, we’ve gotten slower and they could catch up on us. Let’s be as invisible as possible and tomorrow morning, we’ll see.’  
Sig approved  
‘We’re doing our best to maximize our speed, let’s keep our fingers crossed.’  
He stood there in silence  
‘Say, Renard… I haven’t had the time to ask but… What’s USTA? You tried to use it as an argument to repel Harp.’  
The fox did not expect that question.  
‘Oh, the United Slave Traders Association? Like it says, slave traders have united their means to make more profit with their captives and protect their belongings. They claim to trade only best quality slaves and for a slave trader, being part of USTA is being part of the most profitable union there is.’  
‘I see … and I suppose Hickson was part of them?’  
Renard turned his full attention to Sig  
‘Yes.’  
‘I heard what Harp said before he died … want to talk about it?’  
‘No.’  
Sig was again facing that annoyingly distant fox but he kept silent, but then Renard laid a paw on his shoulder.  
‘Sig, don’t take me wrong. My past had better remain buried in my memories and I’d rather not talk about it, especially not now.’  
Sig shrugged his shoulders and couldn’t be mad. ‘I get it, thanks for being honest about it.’

Lucy came up to them, looked at both before addressing Renard and pointing at him.  
‘You should wash your fur, I might not see it but by the smell of it you’re covered in blood.’  
Renard had completely forgotten.  
‘Oh, oh yeah, right.’  
She pulled him by the paw.  
‘Come here Mr. Fox: while you were watching those Templar all this time, I had plenty of opportunities to explore this ship; this vessel is quite large and has some interesting features.’  
Renard followed her in the dark, below deck.  
‘Looks like our Templar friends had comfortable standards, look here: bath time!’  
She took him inside a larger cabin which was completely equipped for cleaning oneself.  
‘This is the washing room!’  
Fresh water was at hand, dry towels too, two benches allowed to sit.  
‘It’s just a shame the lights are out.’  
‘They have to, love, if we get through this night we should be free to light all the candles and fires we want later.’  
‘I know; now sit down so I can take care of you.’  
Renard chuckled: ‘I can wash myself, Lucy.’  
She came very close to his ear and, with a very lusty voice, replied:  
‘That’s an order, Mister Renard, sit!’  
Not having to think twice, electrified by such unexpected twist and his fluffy tail raising straight, Renard could only reply:  
‘Yes ma’am!’ as he sat down to let the hungry wolf take care of him.

Meanwhile on deck all corpses had been thrown off and the whole crew was paying attention to their surroundings, things were awfully quiet and everyone was nervous, this night would be long.  
Sig was keeping an eye on the horizon with his spyglass when, in the distance far behind them, he spotted an area where the cloud cover had vanished and the sea was reflecting the moonlight.  
A shadow crossed this reflection.  
His heart froze: that thing was huge!  
He looked again but could not see anything. Had he just dreamed?  
No, he knew he saw something.  
He looked again, scanning the whole area, still nothing. The clouds closed again over the sea up there, and darkness was again overwhelming.  
Suspicious and nervous, Sig kept all his senses in alert for two long hours.  
After this long wait, he handed the spyglass to another wolf and went to the captain’s cabin. He knocked in case Renard and Lucy were inside again, without any answer he tried to overhear something but it was quiet.  
He opened with caution but they were not here.  
He then remembered Renard was supposed to wash his fur and went below deck towards the washing room.  
Just as he was about to knock, Renard opened the door, both surprised each other and jumped back, Sig even falling off his feet.  
Renard laughed after quickly realizing who the intruder was and offered help to pull him up again.  
‘Were you spying on us or what?’ said the amused fox.  
‘Damnit no! I was looking for you two, do you know what time it is?’  
Lucy appeared in the door frame with only a towel to cover herself, she kissed Renard and scratched behind his ear while asking  
‘What's wrong Sig? Anything happened?’  
‘No, not necessarily…’  
‘Not necessarily? What do you mean?’  
‘Nothing, I thought I saw something some time ago in the moonlight but I must’ve imagined it since nothing else came up again since.’  
Renard expressed concern.  
‘Moonlight?’  
‘Yes. Ah, get dressed and come up, you’ll see the clouds are not everywhere as dense as above us.’  
‘that’s bad news, let’s go see this,’ said Lucy  
‘dress up first!’ requested Sig  
‘All right, meet you on deck’

Sig went back outside while Renard and Lucy grabbed a few clothes in their cabin.  
They soon arrived on deck too.

Indeed, the cloud cover was lifting slowly and the moon was bright.

‘Sig, what did you see and where?’  
Sig pointed in the general direction  
‘Over there, the first area where moonlight went through, that must’ve been two hours ago, a huge shadow crossed the moon’s reflection, I saw it through the spyglass … but only once.’  
‘It must be one of the ships which tried to intercept us. Stay here I’ll check something.’  
Renard went to the captain’s cabin, Lucy followed him.  
He lit a small candle and made sure the light would be as covered as possible, then he looked at the books that were available on the side of the table in the middle of the cabin. All this time he’d slept there and he had not thought of checking the ship’s logbook before.  
He opened it and turned the pages quickly to reach the latest entries. Lucy held the candle next to him.  
‘You can read?’  
‘Yes love, and write, makes better contracts’  
‘Once this is over, will you teach me? There are many other things I also want you to teach me.’  
He paused his research.  
‘Yes, what else do you want to know?’  
‘I want you to teach me also how you stay so calm when you’re about to end someone’s life.’  
He completely stopped searching and rose back up from the table to look her in the eyes.  
‘What do you mean? This is not a game, Lucy.’  
‘I know it’s not, but I want to be strong like you because that’s what I'll need to be if I want to be able to stand by your side.’  
‘I … yes’ he looked at her with love but also a bit of sadness, taking comfort in her blue eyes ‘fair point, but promise me one thing.’  
‘What is it?’  
‘Please, whatever happens in the future, near or far, promise me you’ll never turn in a wreck like I am, promise me to retire from this career the day you hesitate, promise me not to make the same mistakes as me, please, I beg you.’  
She kissed him with passion  
‘Whatever happens, I promise, my love’

Renard smiled, kissed her again, then returned to his search.  
‘There, I found it!’  
He read through the manuscript lines.  
‘Oh no…’  
‘What?’ asked Lucy  
‘According to Harp’s writing here, there were a total of five ships conducting this patrol mission. Three regular line vessels of the same size: the Dominator, the Retributor and the Destructor which is our ship here now, the Interrogator which is a smaller but faster ship and … the Executor. A battleship. One of the biggest they have. That’s what Sig must’ve spotted: we’ve really got an awful lot of angry people on our tails!’  
‘Let's hope they don’t find us,’ added Lucy.

Both went back on deck, the look out shouted from above, ‘Flares!’  
Indeed, north-east of their position, far and nearly over the horizon, the whole crew could see bright flares rising in the dark. Renard and Sig picked their spyglasses up to look at them.

The artificial lights were so low on the horizon that it took Renard his best efforts to count them. Four, there were four of them lit and falling.  
He was relieved.  
‘See, they thought we’d be up there, but we got out of it right in time and they tried looking for us. Change our course to South West, we’ll try getting better winds to leave them further behind.’  
Sig agreed and transmitted the orders; soon the sun would rise and the Templar would be furious to have lost the Destructor for good.  
Exhausted but relieved that their journey would continue, the wolves congratulated each other and went back to normal duty.  
Renard finally went to bed, next to Lucy already waiting for him, they fell asleep in each other’s arms while the sun appeared to the east, revealing an empty and safe sea.


	16. Ambushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After keeping feral keidran at bay all night, Anthy's group struggles to stay focused.  
> The group is weakened and vulnerable, which leads them straight into an ambush...

As expected, the group was having a really hard time to keep it together.  
The daylight gave some respite, but the next night would be crucial.  
Anthy could feel the tension, but could not find a way to ease it. Stress was in the air and the mossy wet forest surrounding them created an even more oppressive feeling. The more he thought about it, the more it became complicated for him to find a solution to these issues.  
Lita kept holding him and never let loose, she was nervous too and he could feel it.  
What he could also feel was the fresh wind coming from the north again. The same he felt days ago and which brought him back to snowy memories. But within this wind, Anthy could taste a hidden hint of salt. They were getting closer to the sea and, most importantly: out of this forest and out of reach from ferals.  
He tried to share the good news by addressing the ones behind him and Lita but all he got for an answer was grunting noise and dark stares.  
While doing so, he saw something move on the back of the group. Further away and behind some trees. In an instant he jumped towards the back, striking confusion into the group and frightening Lita.  
Then the first arrow struck a tree next to them.  
Within seconds, the tiger was on his prey, but several others had revealed themselves. The wolves had to react quickly. Many dropped to the ground for cover, while those able to fight jumped forward to engage the enemy.  
Anthy’s opponent defended himself with a sword, he was wearing a mask and ragged clothes with colors and patterns made to break his silhouette but he was no match for the agile warrior. With two swift moves, Anthy disarmed him and knocked him out with a strike to his head. The mask fell off and showed a human face.  
A quick look made Anthy realize they were surrounded and there was no way to escape that battle. He ran back to the others as quick as he could, dodged incoming arrows and jumped on the closest attacker, the cracking sound of the impact and the following scream of pain was enough to tell the warrior he’d broken some bones.  
Things were going critical, the wolves held as well as they could but right next to Anthy one wolf got hit by an arrow in the shoulder.  
Specifically annoyed by the archer, Anthy spotted him and ran straight to the threat.  
An incoming angry and armed white tiger is a frightening sight, but the archer still managed to throw a last arrow at him. Anthy parried the incoming missile in mid-air, but the tip of the arrow still strafed his right cheek. The human never had another chance after this one: with a powerful strike to the concealed silhouette, Anthy’s blade went deep and put the man down.

‘Help!’ it was Lita’s voice, he focused his attention and it allowed him to see where she was. One of the silhouettes was getting closer to her and she was isolated.  
Too far to get there in time, Anthy took the archer’s bow and arrows and with a perfect aim he nailed the man’s throat.  
The wolves were too spread out and his only way to help was to keep sniping, so he did. With accurate shots he pierced three other attackers and the numbers had evened out.  
Too busy to fight, most wolves and humans had not realized the battle was turning in favor of the ambushed.  
A horn blew through the air, all humans reacted quickly to this signal and broke contact, retreating into the forest. Anthy still managed to hit a last one running, but the battle was over as quick as it had started.  
He ran to a shocked Lita to see if she was alright; the young wolf was unharmed but looked at him with shock: the adrenaline rushing through Anthy’s veins prevented him from noticing his own wounds and the blood on his face. It was only when he started to feel dizzy that he realized the horrible truth:  
‘Poison, their weapons were poisoned!’  
Lita looked at him in terror  
He reached for his purse, grabbed a small vial as quick as he could while darkness was about to overwhelm his sight and drank the content.  
Lita was horrified and started screaming and grabbing him but he could not fight it, he fell to his knees

‘Lita, gather all others, regroup everyone, we must stay toge…’ He lost consciousness.

When he woke up, Lita was sleeping on his chest. He didn’t move at first and tried to listen to his surroundings while trying to pick up the nearby scents.  
It was silent except for the sound and smell of a campfire nearby.  
He risked opening one eye to confirm his impressions, the night had fallen. Cloaked silhouettes were standing guard around other wolves lying on the ground. No human scent was in the air. One of the silhouettes moved, he recognized one of the wolves of the group, one of the guards he had coordinated all this time.  
Anthy moved his hand for the guard to see, the wolf immediately approached and came down on his knees.  
‘By the masks, you’re awake!’  
Anthy could hear other wolves coming towards him, even Lita started to wake up

‘What happened guys?’ Anthy asked, now feeling an aggressive headache.  
The wolf next to him replied:  
‘they fled; their weapons were poisoned and we have eight wounded wolves who just won’t wake up; Lita told us to regroup everyone and we’re stranded since.’  
‘What about them?’  
‘By the look of it, they lost at least ten people, more were wounded but managed to flee. One was unconscious with his nose broken, another is poisoned with an arrow up his bottom, the others were either dead or died from their wounds while being unconscious.’  
Anthy tried to rise up but his body was aching, so he gave up.  
As soon as she realized he was awake and alive, Lita jumped up from his fur and reached for his face. Tears of joy and relief in her eyes, she held his cheeks in her paws and kissed him on the lips with furious passion.  
This surprised everyone, starting with Anthy.  
‘Hey kid, what on earth are you doing?’ The guard was shocked.  
She didn’t even listen to him, her eyes crying  
‘You're awake, are you fine? Tell me you’re fine! I was so scared, please don’t leave me again!’  
The guard made an attempt to move her away  
‘Lita if you’re experiencing your first heat it might be better if…’  
‘Shut up you!’ her eyes throwing daggers at the poor wolf ‘I might not look like it but I’m old enough to know what I’m doing.’  
Anthy held his hand up as a sign to the guard that it’s all right. ‘I know it’s complicated and hard to understand but yeah she’s no kid and yeah we’re together.’  
The wolf only stood there, silently judging.  
One of the elders, a female, came up to Lucy. ‘What do you mean old enough, Alita?’  
‘I’m more than eight, long story short: I was malnourished for a period of time and act like a kid on purpose, I won’t tell you more’  
The elder grabbed Lita’s paws  
‘Hey!’  
‘Shht, Lita, let me see…’ she looked in silence before adding: ‘She’s right.’  
‘Wait, how can you tell?’ Lita was confused.  
‘The marks on our pads, they are a good giveaway for our folk’s age,’ said the elder.

Anthy addressed the elder.  
‘You, you used to know herbalism, right?’  
‘Yes Anthy.’  
‘My antidote seems to have worked to a certain extent, but I drank it all. If I give you a list of its ingredients, do you think you can make more? You’ll probably need to swap out some herbs since we might not find what we need here.’  
‘It is worth a try.’  
‘Thank you.’ He turned his attention to the guard. ‘Did you go through the humans’ stuff and find something?’  
‘We did: found some vials of poison, weapons and these rags and cloaks, they are great for hiding.’  
Indeed, Anthy noticed those who were fit had all covered themselves with the looted clothes.  
‘What about the bodies?’  
‘We've regrouped them over there’ answered the wolf while waving in a direction.  
‘Far from us?’  
‘not really’  
‘We’ve got to throw them away farther from us, they’ll attract hungry ferals.’  
The wolf had to process this thought in his mind and once he did, he had to refrain a gag reflex  
‘Aergh, eating dead humans? Aaaerghl! That’s awful!’  
‘Yes, and it’s better if it’s far away from us, don’t you think?’  
The guard kept struggling with his stomach but approved and left to get some help for this task.

Anthy proceeded with listing the ingredients to the elder and asked everyone to leave him alone. Everyone except Lita which he held tight against him.  
She was mad at him and still shocked: he could feel her shaking.  
‘It's all right, it’s all good, I’m here.’  
‘I thought you were dying!’  
‘I know, and I thought I had failed when I heard you scream.’  
‘He was so close, he was about to kill me, I… I…’  
‘Managed to stay unharmed, shhhh.’  
She started crying again, all the stress pouring out of her in tears, he held her tight and gently caressed her head. She kissed him again and they stood like that for a while, in silence, just holding tight to each other.  
After a long while of hugging, Lucy came up with a feeble voice: ‘Is it true?’  
‘What?’  
‘the ferals and the bodies’  
‘To be honest I’m not sure, but I don’t want to find out.’  
‘me neither, it’s horrible’  
‘Yes, I know.’ He pushed his nose deep in her fur and took a long breath.  
‘You smell nice little one, I’m glad you’re here in my arms.’  
She kissed his paw, none of them wanted to move for the rest of the night.


	17. Unexpected change of course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exhausted but relieved to have escaped the ennemy plan, Sig, Renard and Lucy take some time to reassess their situation. Things are looking good, except one unexpected thing...

Lucy slept peacefully, Renard holding her tight in his arms when he woke up.  
The sun was up and even if he had not slept enough, he still had to check on the ship and its crew.  
Gently he pulled his arm from beneath Lucy, slipped out of the bed and kissed her gently on the forehead.  
‘I’ll be right back.’  
She just moaned a little bit.

Renard put some clothes on and went outside, the bright light struck his eyes and he needed a second to adapt his sight.  
Most of the crew was resting too, except for a small part of it manning their posts.

Sig was nowhere to be seen.  
Renard talked to the few wolves that were on deck.  
‘Anything new since this morning?’  
None had anything to report.  
Renard then went to the ship’s helm to check the course and he immediately realized something was off: the ship had not moved where it should have!  
He quickly calculated and it dawned to him that they had moved way farther South than expected.  
He corrected the course and went to try to get Sig. He didn’t need long to find him: the wolf was snoring in his bed … and to Renard’s surprise, he was not alone!  
Renard raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled. By the looks of it, all this time Sig must’ve been busy courting this lady … with success.

Renard’s smile was large while he left the two lovebirds, made a quick detour through the galley to grab a bite and brought his findings to Lucy still asleep, lying on her belly.  
He gently sat next to her and slid his fingers through her hair, trying to wake her up the easy way, but it didn’t work, so he got close to her ear and began whispering to her:  
‘Hello, sunshine, it’s time to wake up.’  
She groaned.  
‘Oh, c’mon, don’t be grumpy.’ He proceeded with massaging her shoulders, which made her moan. ‘Wake up, I brought breakfast.’  
‘Brrrkffsssst ?’  
‘Yep, all here, special delivery direct in bed breakfast.’  
She sniffed the air, opened an eye and tried to reach out with her arm… But it was too far so she gave up and went limp.  
‘Hrmpf, far…’  
Renard gave her a lick on the snout.  
‘C’mon, you can do it,’ and passed his hand all the way down her spine from neck to tail.  
She moaned again.  
‘Mmmmhmhhooooh, I love when you do that.’  
‘Ah, you’re waking up?’  
‘It’s hard to stay asleep when an annoying but very cute fox comes at you.’  
She turned around and moved back a bit, leaving space at the entrance of the bed on which she patted her paw.  
‘Why don’t you come back here so I can scold you for being a naughty fox?’  
‘Oh nooo, am I being punished for being a bad fox?’ smiled Renard.  
‘Bad? You’re the worst!’ She continued: ‘You ruined a very sweet dream I was having!’  
‘Oh, really?’ Renard asked while lying down next to her. ‘What kind of?’  
‘Well, it started with a handsome fox bringing me breakfast…’  
‘Uh-huh?’  
‘And I was removing his pants, just like this.’ She started removing Renard’s pants, to which he opposed absolutely no resistance although he was slightly blushing.  
‘Uh-huuuh?’  
‘And then I let my hand go wild and grab…’  
‘LAND AHOY!’  
Renard and Lucy both groaned when they heard the lookout shouting.  
‘Oh come on!’ She pouted. ‘Getting your dream ruined twice in a row is no fun!’  
Renard was as disappointed as her and was already putting his pants back on.  
‘I know, but I have to go, we drifted from our course this morning, and land was not supposed to be in sight.’  
‘We drifted?! What happened?!’  
‘I don’t know, I didn’t ask Sig yet, didn’t want to ruin his dream.’ He winked at Lucy and rushed out the door.

There he found the crew waking up too, he grabbed his spyglass and looked at the island that had appeared in front of them but could not see much. He climbed on top of the central mast, where the lookout was, and started watching from there.  
No sign of ships in the area, no signs of wreckage, no signs of presence either. He did not remember seeing an island marked on the maps he had. Yet it was here.

He came down to meet a half woken Sig and a frustrated Lucy.  
‘Hey Sig, had a nice morning?’  
‘Uuugh, my head hurts, what do you mean? What’s all this?’  
‘Heh I let you sleep since you weren’t alone, and this is an unmarked island in front of us.’  
Sig turned red and shameful  
‘Oh, did you…?’  
Renard laughed. ‘No, I didn’t catch you like you did, no worries.’ He patted him on the back. ‘But we’ve apparently drifted off course this morning and went further south.’  
‘WHAT? I checked and set the course before going to… Ahem, sleep and we should not have drifted.’  
‘Hm, weird.’ Both went to the rudder and noticed their course was wrong again.  
‘Wait a minute, I corrected it earlier, we’ve got a problem.’  
Sig took the helm and tried maneuvering, it felt harder than before.  
‘Renard, I think something’s hindering our rudder.’  
‘Damn. We need to fix this as soon as possible.’ He looked at the island. ‘And I know where we’ll be able to do the repairs.’


	18. Primal rage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ambush had been repelled but several members of the group had fallen victim to poison, including Anthy.  
> Thanks to the knowledge of one elder keidran herbalist, the fugitives come up with a makeshift antidote and interrogate their two human prisoners.

Sadly, they could not rest as much as they would have wanted.  
The night was falling down and there were still many things to prepare if they wished to overcome the night.  
Anthy had a hard time standing up, that poison really kicked hard and his antidote was not the best suited.  
Nevertheless, he managed to rise on his feet and took Lita with him to see how the rest of the group was going.  
The elder herbalist had found some herbs that could match or replace Anthy’s ingredients, she had required an escort of two and wandered a bit in the woods, Anthy could tell her two bodyguards were relieved to be back with the others.  
He stumbled on the prisoners who were both tied up. One was asleep due to the poison, he was the one hit in the back while trying to run away and was lying on the side, Anthy went around him and discovered this was a woman.  
The other has had his face bandaged and some of his teeth were missing. He was awake and when he saw the tiger closing in, he wiggled as much as he could to stay away from him.

Anthy stepped on his leg, the human tried to scream but he was gagged, his voice was muffled.  
The tiger released the pressure on his leg, turned to Lita which never let loose of his knife and gave her a sign with his paw for her to lend her blade.  
He pulled it slowly out of his sheath, just in front of the man’s eyes.

In perfect human language, Anthy addressed the prisoner:  
‘I want you to listen very carefully as I won’t repeat myself. Scream, and this goes in your throat. Try to flee and this goes in your neck. Try anything funny and this goes up your butt. Am I clear?’  
Sweat drops were coming down the human’s forehead, he nodded nervously.  
‘Good, now I’ll ask you some questions: give me the right answers and my little friend here won’t break your fingers one by one.’ He turned over to Lita and showed her she should stand behind the captive human.  
He finished his sentence in Keidran.  
‘Did I make myself clear?’  
The human looked at him confused and panicked.  
Anthy brought his blade closer to the man’s face, he was terrified and shaking.  
‘Did I make myself clear?’ asked the tiger again. In human, this time.  
The human nodded like crazy.  
‘Good.’  
Anthy removed the gag, the man gasped for air.  
‘Now tell me, who are you, what were you and your friends doing here and why did you attack us?’  
‘Please don’t kill me, please, please, please don’t kill me, I beg you, please!’  
Anthy roared straight into his face.  
‘Answer the questions!’  
‘Aaaaaaaah. Yes sir tiger, leopard, sir, my name’s Mason, this over here is Lalen; we’re hunters from Maine and were sent to deal with feral Keidran here.’  
‘The village up north?’  
‘Yes, sir.’  
Anthy pulled the man by the hair and pushed his head back, before putting his cold blade on the man’s throat.  
‘Now tell me the real story, you’ve just told your last lie.’  
Mason panicked.  
‘Aaaaaaaah, aaaaaaaah ! All right, all right, easy, I’ll talk, I’ll talk.’  
‘I’m listening.’ The tiger’s tail was whipping the air.  
‘We’re a group of hunters, yes, I’m Mason and this is Lalene, we’re trappers, we catch and kill feral Keidran to…’  
‘Collect their skin and sell it for a great price, yes,’ Anthy finished. ‘That’s why you identified my lineage so well.’  
Mason had his speech cut, he didn’t want to be portrayed as a pelt trader but he was.  
‘I… I… Yes.’ He lowered his eyes.  
‘Why did you attack us, why did you try to trap us?’  
‘Well, the price for each skin is high, imagine we’d have gotten several of you we’d be rich now, especially with your fur.’  
He surprised himself saying this, and instantly regretted it when he saw the look on Anthy’s face. Lita, behind him, was utterly disgusted.  
‘So you took on a whole group of wolves just for profit?’  
‘Well, basically it should’ve worked if it weren’t for you.’  
‘I see, how many of you are still out there?’  
‘Ah, don’t expect me to tell you!’ The man was confident again.  
‘Oh, I don’t need you to.’  
He gagged him again, the man’s eyes were filled with fear again.  
‘You know, hunter Mason, I know your kind, I know your cruel games with those you capture, I know way too well how you are amused by this cruelty, and I know for a fact that if you ever manage to flee, you’ll be that cruel human again and again.’ He handed his knife to Lita.  
‘But there’s one thing I’ve learned with human culture, and it’s quite simple: if you want to be heard, if you want to be taken seriously…’ He lifted the man like a potato sack and put him on his shoulder to move him. ‘If you know humans will always treat you like a beast, there’s no reason not to act as savagely as them and give them a fair warning, don’t you think?’  
Anthy moved him around and dropped him off next to the bodies, tied him up tight and standing against a tree so he could be seen from afar.  
‘Now, you see, I have my reasons to think my feral kind will recognize the smell of poison in your comrades dead bodies, but your blood is clean.’  
Mason’s eyes grew wide when he started realizing what Anthy implied. ‘You’re invited for dinner, enjoy your night.’  
The human was screaming at the top of his lungs and trying to move but the gag muffled his cries and Anthy walked away.  
Lita, who had followed them, looked at the screaming hunter who begged her with his eyes. She came closer to him, Anthy stopped and watched her as she pulled her knife and showed him to the human. He stopped screaming and tried to tell her to release him, acting as if she were some kind of puppy.  
This man really was insulting, thought Anthy.  
Lita stabbed him in the right foot, wiped her blade off on his clothes and came back to the tiger while ignoring the cries of pain coming from behind her.

He put his arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head.  
‘That wasn’t necessary, little one.’  
She looked at him with tears of anger flooding her eyes.  
‘I just want to make sure he does not survive this unharmed, maybe he and his friends have killed and skinned Tina!’  
‘Maybe, let’s hope not. I suppose tonight will be different than the previous one, let’s see how the others are.’  
The sun had vanished from the sky, and darkness had spread among the trees.  
They joined the rest of the group, the elder had finished brewing her mixture but was not too sure it would work and didn’t want to risk a wolf’s life.  
‘We have another prisoner who’s poisoned, haven’t we?’ Anthy said calmly.  
The wolves agreed and proceeded with testing the mix on the woman.  
Within minutes she woke up, threw up, looked miserable and could not move but at least she was conscious.  
The wolves gave her water while Anthy sat down next to her and just like before he talked to her in human.  
‘Human, I want you to listen very carefully as I won’t repeat myself. Scream, and this claw goes through your throat. Try to flee and these fangs will break your neck. Try anything funny and this pack of wolves will shred you to pieces. Am I clear?’  
She still coughed but answered in not so good Keidran.  
‘Yes, you are.’  
‘You understand us?’  
‘Not very good, but yes.’  
She was still lying on the side, the wound in her back had been bandaged.  
‘Good, what’s your name?’  
‘Name is Nalen, but people say Lalen.’  
‘You were hunting us for our pelt, yes?’  
‘Yes, but only feral, did not want attack you.’  
‘Is that so?’ Asked Anthy in human.  
She switched to her language.  
‘Yes. Rickon, our leader, only saw profit, especially when we spotted you. I told him it was stupid, he didn’t listen.’  
‘Really?’  
‘Look, I’m a healer, I’m not supposed to join the fight, I didn’t even want to join at the beginning. I’m only the healer’s apprentice in Maine and I needed practice.’  
Anthy took a sword and with a swift move, stuck it in the ground so close to her face that she froze in terror.  
‘Is that so?’  
‘Yes, I swear, I didn’t want to join them, but the town council of Maine offered gold for every feral Keidran pelt we’d bring back, there are just too many lately, and fear has isolated our village.’  
‘You’re from Maine, right?’  
‘I just told you so, been there my whole life!’  
‘Then could you please tell me the name of the blacksmith’s second daughter?’  
‘Which one, they were twins and one died!’  
‘Both.’  
‘Alice and poor Sarah, they were younger than me when she fell off old Kalan’s roof while trying to help the poor man.’  
‘I remember that too.’  
‘Wait, you’ve been to Maine?!’  
‘Yes, and the last time we were several Keidran who were welcomed in the local tavern.’  
Nalen tried to turn her face to have a better view of the tiger.  
‘Wait, I think I remember you, you were that young white tiger with the other mercenaries, weren’t you? There were three humans, a fox, a white wolf and you, right?’  
‘Yes. Now tell me, Miss Nalen, is there a reason why I and my particularly upset friends should keep you alive after the attempt on our existence earlier this day?’  
‘Apart from the fact that I know how to brew the antidote to wake your friends up for good, there’s sadly none, I played and I lost the game.’  
‘Good, one last question: what were your ties to Mister Mason who was part of your team?’  
‘That vicious bastard? Never liked the man, he was cruel and cowardly; I saw him do things to poor helpless Keidran, even younglings, that would have gotten him executed in public if it had been humans… Wait, how do you know him? Did you capture him too? Is he alive?’  
‘He was a captive, yes.’  
‘Don’t tell me you freed him!’  
A plaintive howl came from not too far away; the wolves immediately raised their weapons in defense, they were all nervous.  
Anthy raised his hand to calm them down.  
‘No worries, I would even encourage you to respond with your most natural way.’  
The wolves looked at him with a mix of shock and shame.  
‘I don’t care, but it might ease your mind.’  
They looked at each other.  
Lita was the first to howl, a clear voice filled with anger and sorrow; soon all others joined in a powerful primal cry. In the distance, others replied.  
Anthy turned his attention back to Nalen which had braced herself: she’d never experienced anything comparable, mighty, emotional and fearsome.  
To try to cover the howls he shouted at her.  
‘Now you see, Miss Nalen, Mister Mason probably won’t be of any importance anymore, ever. But you might have to tag along with us for a little more time than expected; it’s dangerous out of our perimeter tonight and we still have a long way to go tomorrow, so would you please be so kind as to join us for a while in our journey? And if you promise not to engage in other savage and cruel hunting parties like this one, we might even consider dropping you off on a safe spot for you to come home.’  
She couldn’t cover her ears and her whole body was shaking with primordial fear, but she heard Anthy’s offer and shouted back.  
‘It’s either that or death, and I’d rather live, so yes.’  
‘Good, I knew you were reasonable.’  
He picked her gently up, marched through the howling wolves and placed her next to the closest fire for warmth. Then he untied her and threw a blanket over her body.  
‘Rest assured, if you were to flee, we wouldn’t need to run after you.’ He pointed in Mason’s direction and even if her sight was impaired by the night, she could still distinguish active shadows and occasional bright eyes reflecting the fire’s light.  
Her heart froze in terror when two bright eyes stared at her from the distance.  
She couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but between the multiple and endless howls, close and not so far, she thought she heard someone scream in horror and pain…  
Anyway it was too much for her exhausted mind and she lost consciousness.

Lita was howling with all her energy, defying her fears, spilling her anger, screaming her sorrow. It lifted a weight on her heart to be wild like this, to be free.  
After a while, she started being tired of bursting so much energy. Her voice went quiet and she walked back to lay down next to Anthy.  
Unlike the previous night where the lone feral wolf had driven them mad, this time they were actually getting in touch with their own feral side and howled some sort of mutual agreement between the savage darkness and the bright consciousness.  
Lita had kept an eye on Mason’s silhouette, three dark figures had come close to him while she was howling, and by the looks of it, the sounds she picked up, justice was served.  
She kept that in mind when she curled up against the tiger.  
Anthy took her in his arms.  
‘You have to know little one, they’re not all bad.’  
She raised her head and looked at him, frowning because she didn’t understand.  
‘The humans, some are disgusting, some are dangerous, some are kind and friendly, some are treacherous… And there are some you could trust and they would trust you. I’ve met some, I fought back to back with them, we feasted and we cried for our losses together. Don’t ever forget that even if many are hostile, it’s because they don’t know who you are: they have never been taught otherwise than to consider us as slaves. But some have opened their mind, overcome their fear, and these are the humans I would wish to see more often.’  
She looked at him in silence while lying on his chest, her young face hovering over his whiskers.  
And while many other wolves were still howling in the night, she laid her head on his shoulder and nuzzled in the fluffy hair.


End file.
